Story By: Jonathan Macias, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News 

A Mexican school girl who posed as an assassin complete with two gagged hostages at her birthday party has been slammed by netizens for promoting violent cartel culture.

The ‘Leon’-wannabe was photographed at her birthday party in the city of Culiacan in the north-western Mexican state of Sinaloa and the images were later widely shared on social media, sparking outrage among users.

The girl’s name was not reported, although local media said she is aged between 11 and 12 years.

The photos show the girl posing next to her birthday cake with the words ‘La Sicaria’ (‘Hitwoman’) written on it below the image of a gun.

She adopts a menacing pose while pointing a knife to her friends, who are gagged with their hands tied with gaffa tape.

Twitter user ‘VickyNoyola’ wrote: “And we blame videogames…”

Netizen ‘M3rAkV’ said: “I don’t know who is worse, the girl or her parents. I guess this explains why society is like it is.”

‘Elinteresante23’ commented: “Only a despicable society praises terrorism, Mexico has become a horrible country.”

According to local media, the state of Sinaloa is one of the most notorious for organised crime which often leaves an impression on young people attracted to the depicted life of money and power seen in pop culture.

Reports said that over 34,000 murder cases linked to drug cartels were reported in Mexico in 2019.

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