And in Las Mayas, the drugs and guns are a means of day-to-day survival.
Sniffing cocaine off the barrel of a pistol, El Menor repeats his favourite adage: 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.'
He says he is the father of three children 'and I don't know how many more,' but spends his days together with 'Yohan,' the gang's leader, and two others in a shack furnished with a single mattress.
When not in their house, they patrol the slum armed with pistols and sawed-off shotguns, looking out for rival gangs and the drugs that they will later sell. They use guerrilla-like tactics to avoid their enemies, knowing an ambush could lurk around any corner.
'This is how we get by, selling,' says Yohan, as he separates small doses of crack on the mattress.
El Menor has no illusions of anything better coming his way.
'I was a Christian and went to school,' he said. 'But when I stopped studying everything got messed up and the street got me,' he said.
He says he's well aware his time is running out and it seems about every 10 minutes he is snorting more cocaine. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop,' he repeats
Source link: http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iHmnUzBA4Np5H9ePqkx3ok9KaNrg
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