* Above: Youth slam-dancing in the dust
at a reggae ska festival on Friday.
"Niño Malo," hollers the Saturday front-page of El Centro, a Mexico City tabloid. "He's 12 years old and robs, robs, robs." The story inside says the kid, identified as Jorge, was finally caught by police after holding up a microbus at knifepoint on Friday and making off with three handbags, three cell phones, and a bag full of clothing, with the help of an accomplice. Bold little thug, 'int he?
The paper says Jorge's base of operation was in the colonias of Santa Anita, Asturias and Viaducto Piedad, on the border of the boroughs of Cuauhtemoc and Venustiano Carranza. "Since October or November, the chavito started hanging out with a crew that, some say, are thieves," a neighbor said. "Sometimes the kid just disappears. He says he doesn't even care about his aunt," with whom Jorge lives. Or, lived, now that he's in juvi.
* The image above is an unrelated preview, for a future post.