Video of kid criminals, victims stirs Mexico debate

A short video in which children play the roles of drug traffickers, crime victims, migrants and corrupt police is causing a stir in Mexico just three months ahead of elections. The four-minute video, titled "Uncomfortable Children," shows kids assaulting each other, being swept up in shootouts and other crimes in a Mexico made up only of children. The video ends with a small girl calling on the four presidential candidates to give Mexican children a better future. A striking take on the country's most pervasive problems, the video has been broadcast across television and social networks, scoring almost two million hits on YouTube in two days. The video was created by Our Mexico of the Future, a foundation supported by insurance giant Grupo Nacional Provinical and a string of businesses and civil organizations. "There are millions of us who want a better country," said a slogan at the end of the clip. The frontrunner to win the July 1 presidential election, Enrique Pena Nieto, from Mexico's main opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, expressed support for the video's message. "I hear the same on tour: 'time has run out.' It's time to renew hope and change Mexico," he tweeted. His closest rival, Josefina Vazquez Mota of the ruling National Action Party, wrote on Twitter that the clip is "a call to action that can't be ignored. I accept the challenge." Several lawmakers and a child protection group criticized the clip's use of children and called on legislators to speak out against it.