“The daily murders, the glorification of criminals, all this has made violence seem normal. We have stopped being shocked by it. And children grow up with this.” Rep. Veronica Juarez who has helped draft the anti-bullying bills

MEXICO CITY—As the last class was finishing at the school in northeast Mexico, the four pupils grabbed 12-year-old Hector Alejandro Mendez by his arms and legs and swung him, banging his head against the wall.

Mendez — “Mini,” to his friends — made it home, where he told his mother about the assault before losing consciousness.

He died a week later. The injuries had caused fatal bleeding in his brain.

At his funeral, weeping family and friends wore white T-shirts with messages to the departed child. “Alejandro, we always love you,” said the epistle from his mother. “Justice for my baby.”

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Even in a country that suffered more than 18,000 murders last year, the death on May 20 unleashed shock waves of grief and anger that have provoked a concerted debate about violent bullying and how to deal with it.

President Enrique Peña Nieto met with Mendez’s parents, lawmakers have filed two new bills on the issue, and hundred of celebrities — from pop diva Thalia to football striker Javier Hernandez — have joined an anti-bullying campaign, many using the phrase “bullying is not a game.”

Amid the furor, educators, psychologists and politicians are grappling with a painful question: has the cartel bloodshed that has ravaged Mexico made school kids more violent?

Last month’s assault took place in Tamaulipas, a state just over the Texas border that has suffered some of the worst violence in the country, including massacres, firefights, car bombings and decapitations.

There have also been high-profile bullying incidents in other cartel-dominated cities such as Ciudad Juárez and Tijuana, where a child who had a chemical thrown in his face at school in May could go permanently blind.

“Without doubt, there is a link between the violence in society and the violence in schools,” said Rep. Veronica Juarez, who has helped draft the anti-bullying bills.

“The daily murders, the glorification of criminals, all this has made violence seem normal. We have stopped being shocked by it. And children grow up with this.”

Cartel-related violence exploded in Mexico from 2008, partly in response to a military crackdown by then-President Felipe Calderon. There have been more than 70,000 drug-related killings in the following six years — or during half the short life of Hector Mendez.

The death toll is finally falling, with 13 percent fewer homicides reported in the first four months of 2014, compared to the same period last year, but Peña Nieto concedes there is still a big challenge ahead.

Thousands of victims have been shot in broad daylight, leaving corpses in the sight of children.

Many classes have been stopped because of gunfire. In Michoacan state, more than 800 schools have suspended lessons this year alone because of violence outside their gates.

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Thousands of students also have parents who have been killed or arrested in connection with the narco violence. Last year in Jalisco state, two 15-year-old pupils were murdered by cartel thugs because the teenagers had bullied the son of a kingpin, according to the state prosecutor.

Psychologist Samantha Urzua, who works with adolescents, is convinced the heavy bloodshed has made teenagers more violent.

“There is a culture where children look up to the most aggressive, most violent among their peers,” Urzua said.

“This has been a growing problem for years. It took a child to fall in the hole before we try and cover the well,” she said, citing a Mexican saying.

Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission has also joined anti-bullying efforts, pointing to a dramatic rise in complaints it has received over the issue. More than 1,000 complaints of bullying were filed in 2013, compared to just 50 in 2000.

However, investigators who try to quantify bullying have long found it hard to come up with reliable comparative statistics.

Rising complaints about bullying could also reflect greater awareness of the issue. The term itself has only recently become popular in Mexico, where the English word is used.

It is difficult to know exactly how much the cartel bloodshed in Tamaulipas may have affected the four boys who smashed Hector Mendez’s head against the wall.

One of them told a Mexican newspaper it was a game, and they panicked when they saw him vomit blood.

State prosecutors have said the children cannot be sent to prison because they are under 14. However, they are looking at charging the teacher and other school employees with being accessories to murder.

Mendez’s parents are among those calling for the teacher to be locked up for allowing the violent bullying.

“I would not like another mother to go through what I am going through. I wouldn’t like this teacher giving classes in another school and denying help to a child who needs it,” Rebeca Ramirez said on Mexico’s Milenio TV.

“I am devastated. I have cried so much that my eyes have no tears. I feel like I am gone with my son.”

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