The Andes
Are the FARC narco-traffickers?
Amid peace talks in Havana, Colombia's FARC issued an angry communique insisting "We are not narco-traffickers." But major coke busts supposedly linked to the guerillas continue.
Tag: cocaine
Mexico
Chicago link to Mexican mass abduction?
Another major bust of an accused Mexican cartel operative in Chicago this time involves the Guerreros Unidos—the gang named in the the disappearance of 43 college students.
Mexico
Sentencing in Sinaloa Cartel’s Chicago connection
A case related to the Sinaloa Cartel's Chicago connection provided further fodder for the increasingly plausible theory that the DEA protected Mexico's biggest crime machine.
The Andes
Peru: populist governor re-elected from prison
Gregorio Santos, the populist president of Peru's Cajamarca region, was comfortably re-elected—despite being imprisoned as corruption charges are pending against him.
Mexico
Fortune magazine ranks top five global cartels
Fortune magazine issued a list of the biggest organized crime groups in the world: elements of Japan's Yakuza, Russian mafia, two Italian syndicates and Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel.
Central America
Nicaragua: contra-drug series was CIA ‘nightmare’
Gary Webb's 1996 newspaper series on narco-trafficking by US-backed Nicaraguan "resistance" fighters in the 1980s keeps getting buried—and keeps coming back to life.
The Andes
Peru: record coke bust points to Mexican cartels
A record-breaking cocaine bust on Peru's Pacific coast points not only to booming production, but the increasing role of the Mexican cartels in the Andean narco economy.
The Andes
Colombia: FARC meet army brass, coke flows on
Colombia's top brass held their first meeting with FARC leaders at peace talks in Havana—as Panamanian authorities claimed interception of a massive FARC cocaine shipment.
Central America
Central America: ‘narco-deforestation’?
Central America's rainforests are being destroyed by drug traffickers who cut roads and airstirps on officially protected lands, according to a paper in the journal Science.
The Andes
Colombia: pressure grows to expand drug decrim
An official from the capital district government of Bogotá called upon Colombia’s national government to open debate on broadening the policy of drug decriminalization.
The Andes
Colombia: cops seize ton of para cocaine
Colombia's National Police announced the seizure of 1.2 tons of cocaine allegedly belonging to paramilitary group Los Urabeños.
The Andes
Colombia: photos link Uribe to narcos, paras
Just as he has launched a new political party, photos emerge showing Colombia's ex-president Alvaro Uribe with figures linked to the "para-politics" scandal.