Iran
Iran hangs 16 after Baluch border clash
Sixteen accused militants were hanged in Iran’s Baluchistan province—in apparent retaliation for the deaths of at least 14 border guards in an ambush just the night before.
Tag: narco wars
Mexico
Anabel Hernández: Mexico’s new narco order
Mexican journalist Anabel Hernández, facing death threats after outing top officials as cartel collaborators, speaks on the state of the narco wars under the new government.
Mexico
Gulf Cartel’s Guatemalan jefe busted in Chiapas
Mexican federal police announced the apprehension of a fugitive Gulf Cartel kingpin, Eduardo Francisco Villatoro Cano AKA “Guayo”—wanted in Guatemala for a bloody attack on police.
Mexico
Mexico busts more Sinaloa Cartel biggies —but still not El Chapo
Three accused Sinaloa Cartel operatives go on trial in the US, while Guatemala denies rumors that the cartel’s fugitive kingpin was killed in a jungle shoot-out with police.
The Andes
Bolivia, Venezuela reject US drug criticism
For a fifth year running, the White House "blacklisted" Bolivia and Venezuela for perceived insufficient anti-drug efforts—and both governments reacted with anger.
Southeast Asia
Blood jade empire as Burma warlords diversify
Burma’s military and the rebel Kachin Independence Army vie in control for a semi-underground jade industry in the northern jungles, with the exports going to China.
The Andes
Colombia pays Ecuador for fumigation damages
Colombia paid Ecuador $15 million after anti-narcotics fumigation planes dropped herbicides along the border, harming crops and communities in Ecuadoran territory.
Central America
Guatemala: mineral interests behind massacre?
Indigenous authorities in the Guatemalan pueblo of Nacahuil reject government claims that a massacre there was the work of drug gangs, pointing to violence against mining opponents.
Central America
Honduras grants title to Miskito territory
After 40 years of conflicts, protests and negotiations, the government of Honduras formally granted indigenous communities title to nearly all of the country’s remote Miskito Coast.
Mexico
Ciudad Juárez: femicide avenger strikes back
A vigilante calling herself Diana​ the Hunter claimed credit for the slaying of two bus drivers in Ciudad Juárez, calling it revenge for sexual abuse of women by night-shift drivers.
The Andes
Colombia: ex-senator wanted for para links
Colombia's high court issued a an arrest order for Luis Alfredo Ramos, former senator and current presidential candidate, on suspicion of collaboration with paramilitaries.
Mexico
Mexico: army clashes with ‘community police’
Mexican army troops disarmed hundreds of members of the “community police” peasant self-defense movement after a brief scuffle on the coastal highway in Guerrero state.