Cannabis took a greater share of total drug crops eradicated in Peru in 2013, and authorities hope to expand eradication this year—bringing the program beyond the remote coca zones.
Mexican security forces announced the arrest of a top leader of the New Generation drug cartel, based in the western state of Jalisco, and linked to the Michoacán violence.
A spike in deadly violence came just as El Salvador faced presidential elections, leading to speculation of an intentional provocation by resurgent death squads.
Mexico's government signed an accord with Michoacán's "community police" network, calling for the self-defense militias to be incorporated into the official security forces.
Michoacán's blood-drenched Knights Templar cartel have amassed a land empire in the Mexican state, using the avocado industry to launder narco profits.
Mexican federal police arrested 38 people across violence-torn Michoacán state, claiming a blow against the notorious Knights Templar drug cartel.
Up to 12 were reported dead after Mexican army troops were sent in to take back Michocacán villages from the "community police" vigilante force.
Some 100 gunmen from a "community police" force in Mexico's Michoacán state seized the town of Nueva Italia—precipiatating a shoot-out with the Knights Templar cartel.
Colombia's National Police announced the seizure of 1.2 tons of cocaine allegedly belonging to paramilitary group Los Urabeños.
An engineer for the Águila Dorada mining company was detained by members of an Awajún indigenous community in Peru's northern Cajamarca region.
At the Havana peace talks with the Colombian government, the FARC rebels released a proposal to decriminalize and "regulate the production of coca, poppies and marijuana."
The prison crisis in Brazil made brief headlines after newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo released a gruesome video of gang warfare victims at the violence-plagued Pedrinhas facility.
