A man believed to be the godson of Mexican narco lord "Chapo" Guzmán was indicted in a San Diego federal court after turning himself in to US border agents at Calexico. Authorities say Damaso López Serrano AKA "Mini Lic" surrendered under pressure of a bloody power struggle over control of the Sinaloa Cartel.
In unsettling news for the country's peace process with the FARC guerillas, Colombia registered a record-shattering 50% increase in coca-leaf cultivation last year, according to the latest report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The figures, released by UNODC's Integrated Illicit Crops Monitoring System, show 146.000 hectares under coca cultivation in 2016, compared to 96.000 in 2015—actually a 52% jump.
London's High Court of Justice ruled that the UK can continue to export arms to Saudi Arabia, rejecting a case asserting that the weapons have been used in the commission of war crimes in Yemen. A substantial portion of the court's reasoning is contained in a "closed judgment" document only available to the government's legal team and a security-cleared "special advocate" for the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT).
Turkish government claims that Kurdish rebels in the country's east are profiting from the hashish trade point to an integrated counter-insurgency and drug enforcement campaign.
Protests continued for a second week in Morocco's neglected Rif region, and spread to cities throughout the country—bringing together Arabs and Berbers to demand democratic reform.
Duterte's declaration of martial law in Mindanao is ostensibly in response to an ISIS-linked terrorist group, but will give security forces a still freer hand in his murderous "war on drugs."
Enemies of Colombia's peace process are dealt propaganda assistance by the fact that as the long civil war has wound down, coca leaf production in the country has been soaring.
Hundreds of peasant coca-growers shut down a main highway through southern Colombia to oppose the government's renewed "forced eradication" campaign in the region.
Days after calling off his murderous police anti-narco units in response to international criticism, Duterte announced that he will instead send in the army.
Accused of carrying out 3,000 extrajudicial executions, the Philippines' ultra-hardline President Duterte now threatens to kill human rights activists who dare to complain about it.
Joe Arpaio and Rudolph Giuliani, short-listed for Homeland Security secretary, both have extensive experience in running detainment camps for undocumented immigrants.
Bill Weinberg makes the case that Donald Trump is an actual fascist, and repeats his call for urgent pressure on the electors to refuse to seat him as president.
