Mexico
Mexico: Templario operative killed, secrets spilled
Mexican police busted a major operative of Michoacán's Knights Templar syndicate—as videotapes emerged implicating a top TV anchor in pay-offs from the cartel.
Tag: narco wars
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.
Mexico
ISIS to attack US through Mexico …Not!
John McCain prompted testimony from a Homeland Security official that ISIS could seek to infiltrate the US through Mexico. The media jumped on it, but there's nothing there.
Mexico
Mexico: protests for imprisoned vigilante leader
Supporters of José Manuel Mireles Valverde, imprisoned leader of the self-defense forces in violence-torn Michoacán, are holding a protest mobilization to demand his release.
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.
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.
Iraq
ISIS burns Syrian cannabis fields
The farmers of northern Syria have been forced to grow cannabis, with all other economic activity disrupted by war. Now they face harsh privation as ISIS burns the cannabis fields.
The Andes
Colombia: freed cartel hitman demands protection
The notorious "Popeye," personal hitman for late kingpin Pablo Escobar, was freed from prison—but is is receiving official protection from the Colombian government.
Mexico
Mexico: demand investigation of military massacre
Human Rights Watch called on Mexico to ensure an "impartial and effective" investigation into the killing of 22 civilians by soldiers in a raid on a supposed kidnapping gang.
Southern Cone
Brazil: deadly prison uprising ends in deal
Brazilian authorities reached a deal with inmates after a deadly prison uprising at Cascavel in Paraná state—one of many facilities where control of wards has been left to gangs.
Mexico
Mexico: torture increased 600% in 10 years
Reports of torture soared after Mexico's government began its militarized "war on drugs," but the tradition of de facto impunity for torturers appears not to have changed.