Mexico
Mexico

Mexico: 140 missing in wake of Sinaloa violence

Residents of Jesús María barrio in Culiacán, capital of Mexico’s Sinaloa state, marched on the governor’s palace demanding action on the whereabouts of 140 community members they say have been missing since violence engulfed the city after the arrest of a top cartel kingpin. The youngest of the missing residents is said to be 12 years old. Protesters also denounced abuses by the military troops that have been patrolling Culiacán since the outburst, including illegal detentions and home searches. The arrest of Ovidio Guzmán López—son of the infamous “El Chapo” Guzmán—set off days of street-fighting between cartel gunmen and the security forces. (Map: PCL)

Mexico
narcotanks

Corporate cannabis targets bleeding Mexico

There is a discomforting sense that Mexico is perpetually on the eve of cannabis legalization, as the country’s Congress wins a six-month extension from the Supreme Court to pass a law freeing the herb. But foreign capital is already eyeing Mexico’s emergent legal cannabis sector—even amid a terrifying escalation in the bloody cartel wars. When authorities attempted to arrest the son of “Chapo” Guzmán in Culiacán, the troops were surrounded by Cartel gunmen riding in trucks mounted with big machine-guns, and even what appeared to be improvised armored vehicles. The younger Guzmán escaped, and the Sinaloa Cartel proved it has the firepower to effectively challenge the state—at least on its home turf. (Photo via The Drive)

Mexico

Nightmarish narco-violence in Chihuahua

An armed clash at a mountain village in Mexico's border state of Chihuahua left at least 25 dead—the latest indication that narco-gangs are stronger than the government across much of the country's drug-producing sierras. The shoot-out erupted in the pueblo of Las Varas, in the foothills of the Sierra Tarahumara—Mexico's prime cannabis and opium cultivation area.

Mexico

Mexico: paramilitary terror stalks Chihuahua

A wave of paramilitary terror grips the Sierra Tarahumara in northern Mexico's Chihuahua state, as the Sinaloa Cartel seeks control over the opium and cannabis cultivation zone.

Mexico

Mexico: Zapatistas host Ayotzinapa families

The Zapatista rebels in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas marked the anniversary of their 1994 New Years Day uprising by hosting a national activist gathering in their territory.

Mexico

Mexico claims another blow against cartels

Mexico claimed the capture of Juárez Carel kingpin Vicente Carrillo Fuentes AKA "El Viceroy"—yet another take-down of a defeated rival of the hegemonic Sinaloa Cartel.

Mexico

Mexican cartel wars winding down?

Mexican authorities claimed another coup against the cartels with the arrest of Héctor Beltran Leyva, last remaining kingpin of the Beltran Leyva Organization.

Mexico

Mexico: a new Pax Mafiosa?

Reports of a summit of cartel "capos" in Piedras Negras fuel speculation that President Enrique Peña Nieto seeks to rebuild the "Pax Mafiosa" of Mexico's old one-party state.

Mexico

Mexico: new massacre strikes terror in Juárez

A new massacre is reported from Ciudad Juárez, again raising fears of a return to the wave of deadly violence that convulsed the Mexican border city for much of the past decade.

Mexico

Wave of barroom balaceras across Mexico

Gunmen shot up nightclubs in Chihuahua, Oaxaca and Guerrero, killing 11 and kidnapping one—the latest in a surge of violence since the change of government in Mexico.

Mexico

Peace of the graveyard in Ciudad Juárez?

Violent deaths in Ciudad Juárez dropped to 800 last year, down from a peak of 3,622 in 2010—likely because the Sinaloa Cartel has finally crushed local rival, the Juárez Cartel.