Mexico's ruling coalition kept its slim majority in elections marred by violence and assassination of candidates. Striking teachers attempted to disrupt the vote, calling it a farce.
Peace talks with the FARC rebels resumed in Havana—but rather than answering rebel calls for a bilateral ceasefire, the government has stepped up air-strikes.
Survivors are questioning official accounts of a shoot-out between Mexican federal forces and a narco gang that left over 40 dead in the Michoacán town of Tanhuato.
Peru's authorities claim to have evidence that the neo-Senderistas are in league with a re-organized Colombian cocaine cartel, ironically known as the "Cafeteros" (coffee-producers).
Protesters are demanding that Guatemala's President Otto Pérez step down following corruption revelations—including claims linking his administration to narco-traffickers.
Mexico's drug cartels appear to have declared open season on any candidate for public office who will not toe their line in the run-up to June's midterm elections.
Maya indigenous peasants in Mexico's southern Chiapas state marched cross-country to oppose violence by narco gangs and the corruption of local authorities that protect them.
Family members of some of the 43 missing students held a vigil in New York City's Union Square—one stop on a tour of US cities to raise awareness on their plight.
DEA agents in Colombia held sex parties with prostitutes hired by narco-traffickers, according to an investigation released by the US Justice Department.
Both sides in Yemen's bitter Sunni-Shi'ite divide—equally intolerant of hashish-smokers and khat-chewers—are turning to the dope trade to fund their arsenals.
Authorities in Colombia are carrying out a manhunt Dario Antonio Usuga AKA "Otoniel"—the biggest since the campaign that brought down the legendary Pablo Escobar in 1993.
The World Health Organization reclassified the herbicide glyphosate as a cancer threat—big news in Colombia, where the government sprays millions of acres to eradicate coca.
