TEENS UNITE AGAINST DRUG DEALERS

What: Conference on "Young Frontier: New Millennium Challenges Faced by
Teen-agers Along the Borderline." Event seeks to raise awareness among
youths about the risks of drug smuggling.

When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Where: Chamizal National Memorial in El Paso (Monday); University Cultural
Center/Autonomous University of Juarez (UACJ).

Admission: The event is free and open to the public. Area youths are
encouraged to attend.

Hundreds of El Paso and Juarez teens plan to join hands across the Bridge
of the Americas on Monday to symbolize their unity against the exploitation
of border youths by drug dealers.

The event is part of a two-day conference Monday and Tuesday in El Paso and
Juarez designed to raise awareness among youths about the risks of drug
smuggling.

"The idea for the conference arose from concerns voiced at bilateral
meetings over the growing number of youths that drug-traffickers were
recruiting to smuggle drugs across the border," said Antonio Meza, the
Mexican consul in El Paso.

The U.S. consul in Juarez and members of law enforcement from both sides of
the border took part in those discussions, said Meza, who spearheaded
efforts for the conference called "Young Frontier: New Millennium
Challenges Faced by Teen-agers Along the Borderline."

Law enforcement officials reported that 63 juveniles younger than 16 were
arrested in El Paso for drug-trafficking in 1997. In 1999, the figure rose
to 148. Along the U.S.-Mexican border, about 720 youths were arrested on
drug-smuggling charges in 1997, compared with 500 in the rest of the
nation, according to news accounts.

This week, Juarez police reported that a 15-year-old El Paso teen and a
17-year-old Juarez companion were shot to death Tuesday night in Juarez by
alleged drug dealers.

Authorities said they were shot in a dispute over $250 worth of cocaine.
Details were not available. Up to now, most of the drug-related shootings
in Juarez have involved adults.

Conference organizers note that 25 percent of the El Paso-Juarez population
is 18 years old or younger and that one in three residents is younger than 30.

Featured conference guests will include District Attorney Jaime Esparza,
County Attorney Jose Rodriguez, U.S. Consul Edward Vazquez, El Paso Mayor
Carlos Ramirez, Juarez Mayor Gustavo Elizondo and Las Cruces Mayor Ruben Smith.

Scholars, social researchers and representatives of nongovernmental
organizations will make special presentations, along with area high school
students.

Among the experts expected at the conference are Guillermo Velasco,
president of Mexico United Against Delinquency, and Lorenzo Gomez Morin,
welfare and education minister.

Representatives of the El Paso Police Department, Juarez Municipal Police
and the Catholic dioceses of both cities will take part in a Tuesday panel
titled "Young Frontier at Risk, Addictions and Responsibilities of the Family.

Ricardo Rocha, a prominent Mexican journalist, will moderate a panel of
border journalists on the role of the news media in preventing drug abuse.