The recruitment of children in criminal organizations through Latin America via the use of social media and online video games is booming. But the government's responses to this problem fail current and future generations.
While criminal organizations once concentrated their efforts on obtaining young work by offering money to low -income minors to carry out targeted or smuggling drugs, the rise in digital messaging services, entertainment applications and online video games frequently used by young people have changed the rules of the game.
False jobs published on forums, extortion and threats through online messaging are common denominators in digital recruitment. Boys are generally confronted with coercion in roles such as wage killers, extractors or micro-tradists. Regarding girls, they are often forced online prostitution and sexual exploitation via dating applications like Tinder or content platforms such as Only.
Tiktok's rise in power, online video games and the general increase in the use of digital platforms in minors prompted organized crime to exploit these entertainment services.
But it was the world pandemic COVID-19 which was one of the main catalysts of the transition to digital recruitment, according to research of the global initiative against transnational organized crime.
“Due to locking during the coco-19 cocodid pandemic, the criminal groups began to explore the means of recruiting digitally.
This emerging dynamic was particularly obvious in Colombia, where armed groups used WhatsApp to attract minors to clandestine festivals Designed to guarantee new recruits during national locks. These meetings served as entry into criminal structures, where young people were seduced by small loans or forced by kidnapping.
The trend continued as the pandemic calmed down. Between 2022 and 2024, armed groups in Colombia recruited children using social media platforms like Tiktok and Facebook, according to a recent report from the United Nations High Commissioner Office to Human Rights in Colombia.
But the forced recruitment of minors is not exclusive to Colombia and its armed conflict. Earlier this year, Mexico's security secretary deleted 200 digital accounts related to the criminal who would be used for recruitment efforts.
In a recent case in the state of Michoacán, a 17 -year -old child attracted by a false job opportunity On Facebook by an anonymous criminal group that has promised 7,000 pesos (almost $ 400) per week. He went to a bus station to meet his potential recruiters, but was recovered by the police before he could be taken.
And towards the end of 2024, a 14 -year -old boy drawn out With a supposed friend, he met in free online video games. The recruiter went to Oaxaca after maintaining contact with the minor for several months, trying to win his confidence so that they can meet in a friendly context. Thanks to the GPS location of the minor's phone, the authorities saved it before it could be taken.
Another 12 -year -old boy named ángel was also manipulated through Fire free, her favorite video game. But before it could be removed, allegedly by the Sinaloa cartelThe authorities saved the boy and sent him back to his relatives.
Digital recruitment is also increasing in Ecuador, where the police consider that as much as 60% Gang members are adolescents. At least 27% Minors in gangs have been recruited via social media, according to a survey in 2025 in nearly 3,000 young people at risk led by the Ecuadorian organized crime observatory.
Government responses fail
Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia have all implemented measures against the recruitment of children, but the efforts to approach the increasing digital component have been deficient in certain cases and entirely absent in others.
In Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum suggested Regulate social media to prevent young people from joining criminal structures. However, identifying and monitoring digital accounts on cyberspace is like finding a needle in a haystack. New accounts are constantly created, so even if some are deleted, many others will always be generated.
“I find it hard to see how social media could be regulated. (He) has been tried in many countries and it has not yet worked, “said Balderas.
In June, the president of Ecuador Daniel Noboa created a inter-institutional committee Against the recruitment of children by organized crime, aimed at attacking the problem via public policies and social assistance programs.
In Colombia, in the meantime, the Total peace plan Aims to prevent children's recruitment by establishing a dialogue with non -state armed groups and ultimately competition between criminal structures for child labor.
However, none of these government initiatives takes into account the new reality of digital recruitment and the unique challenges it poses, in particular the difficulties associated with the regulation of these online spaces.
Featured image: a child soldier with guerrillas from the National Liberation Army (ELN) of Colombia. Credit: CNC Noticias
