CHILDREN ARE PAYING EMOTIONAL PRICE FOR JUAREZ VIOLENCE

JUAREZ -- The image was disturbing -- a young girl stretching her body
through iron bars to catch a glimpse of several people who had just
been gunned down.

Their bodies collapsed on the sidewalk near her home after gunmen
opened fire on them in apparent retaliation for the kidnapping of
another child.

For children such as the girl trying to see the victims, the brutality
of the drug war in Juarez is causing psychological and emotional problems.

Violence seems to be all around them.

On Thursday, multiple attacks in different parts of the city claimed
the lives of 25 people -- the youngest 15 years old.

Authorities said the slayings are connected to a warning painted on a
wall that threatened retaliation against the Sinaloa drug cartel for
the kidnapping of a child.

On Friday, a woman who takes car of her grandchildren knows firsthand
the impact the violence is having on children.

The woman, who preferred not to be identified, said children are
scared.

"Children are suffering. They don't want to go out and play in the
streets anymore. They're afraid. Every time they see a police unit,
they think something bad happened," she said.

She said her 3-year-old grandson heard the shots in one of the attacks
Thursday.

"The child didn't sleep all night; he was very scared," she
said.

She her grandson would not stop crying on Friday and was
restless.

This week, a program designed to teach schoolchildren and their
teachers how to protect themselves in the event of a shooting was
discontinued. In addition, one school was closed Friday because the
principal was the victim of an extortion attempt.

Child psychologist Robert Patterson, of El Paso, said the violence is
causing a general state of anxiety among children. Even if children
haven't experienced violence directly, there is going to be a general
anxiety for their own safety and the safety of their parents, he said.

If children witness a violent act directly or indirectly, they will
start having nightmares and flashbacks, he said.

"From what I gather from a few other therapists on this side of the
border, people are bringing their kids over here for help for trauma,"
he said.

"They're traumatized just about hearing about something awful. Even if
they've heard a story at school about a body being beheaded, they show
classic symptoms of trauma," he said.