Kidnap notes plague Mexico pupils

By Stephen Gibbs

BBC News, Mexico City

Some parents have pulled their children from school.

A series of anonymous notes have been posted outside schools in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez threatening to kidnap pupils if money is not paid.

The notes state that teachers should hand over their end-of-year bonuses to avoid the threat to their students. No arrests have been made over the threats, but drug cartels are believed to be responsible.

The city, on the US border, has one of the world's highest murder rates with more than 1,400 homicides this year.

Over the last few weeks several notes have been mysteriously pinned up at the entrance to schools in Ciudad Juarez. They demand money from the staff, and threaten to harm both teachers and pupils if the request is not met.

One of the notes was pinned to a wall outside a kindergarten.

Gruesome violence

The extortion campaign appears to be timed to coincide with the Christmas bonuses teachers in Mexico receive in their December pay packets.

When news of the notes became public, many parents removed their children from school.
Ciudad Juarez is becoming infamous as the place where some of the most gruesome violence in Mexico's ongoing drug wars is concentrated.

More than a quarter of all the murders linked to organised crime in the country this year have been in the city.

As well as schools, hospitals are finding it increasingly difficult to function normally. Last weekend, hundreds of doctors staged a protest in the city denouncing the extreme level of threats and kidnappings they face every day.

There have been several reports of gunmen entering hospitals to finish off wounded rivals, as they are being treated. Several medical clinics have closed permanently.

Government officials say that they are doing all they can to defeat the drug cartels, and say much of the violence is a reflection of their success, as leaderless gangs fight one another for dominance.

But the social consequences of such prolonged and prolific violence might present a future battle for this country.

In many schools in northern Mexico, teachers report that their pupils have an increasing tendency to idolise narco-traffickers as untouchable heroes.