Mexico
Mexico: Zetas kingpin in cadaver caper?
Mexico announced the death of Heriberto Lazcano, maximum leader of Los Zetas—but the body was seized by an armed commando before identification could be confirmed.
Tag: narco wars
Mexico
Friendly fire blamed for Border Patrol death
Friendly fire caused the death of a Border Patrol agent near the Arizona-Mexico border, the FBI now says—ending days of speculation that Mexican smugglers shot the agent.
Mexico
Mexico: did cartel organize attack on CIA agents?
US officials suspect that organized crime was behind an attack by Mexican federal police on a US embassy car on a road south of Mexico City. The police say it was just a mistake.
The Andes
Peru coca crop rises for sixth year: UN
A new report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime says that Peru has now achieved rough parity with Colombia in coca production, with vast new areas coming under cultivation.
Mexico
Mexico: Zetas’ ‘El Taliban’ busted by federals
Mexican naval forces announced the arrest of Iván Velázquez, AKA “El Taliban”—said to be a top commander of Los Zetas who had recently defected to the rival Gulf Cartel.
Central America
UN report: drug trafficking threatens rule of law
Drug trafficking and violent crime in Central America and the Caribbean threaten the rule of law in those regions, according to a report by the UN Office of Drugs and Crime.
Mexico
Mexico: ambush of CIA agents mistaken identity?
Mexican authorities say federal police who ambushed a US embassy van carrying CIA agents, wounding two, simply confused the vehicle for one carrying kidnapping suspects.
Mexico
Report blasts US government for Fast and Furious
A government report on Operation Fast and Furious criticized officials but didn’t find evidence to back up conspiracy theories favored by the gun lobby.
Mexico
Army troops sent to patrol Mexico City suburb
Mexico has for the first time sent soldiers to patrol suburbs of the capital, following the slaying of a politician in Nezahualcóyotl—the latest in a wave of killings in the district.
The Andes
‘El Loco’ Barrera, Colombia’s most wanted, busted in Venezuela
Authorities from four countries cooperated in a months-long operation that led to the arrest in Venezuela of Daniel Barrera AKA "El Loco"—dubbed the "last of the great capos."
Mexico
Mexico’s prez-elect broaches oil privatization —almost
As a devastating blast rocked a Pemex plant, Mexico’s president-elect Enrique Peña Nieto told business leaders the private sector will help modernize the state-owned giant.
The Amazon
Peru: jungle shoot-out as narco-flight intercepted
Peru’s National Police say a Cessna full of cocaine intercepted at a clandestine jungle airstrip reveals that Sendero Luminoso guerillas are working with Bolivian drug lords.