Mexico drug war

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'Architect' of Mexico's War on Drugs Had a Big Secret

Genaro García Luna convicted of drug trafficking, accepting cartel bribes

(Newser) - As Mexico's top public safety official, Genaro García Luna was tasked with tracking down and stopping drug cartels. In fact, he was "widely considered the architect of Mexico's war on drugs," per the BBC . He didn't quite fulfill the role. On Tuesday, the highest-ranking...

Dozens Vanish Along 'Highway of Death'
Dozens Vanish From
Mexican Highway
Jun 26, 2021 3:00 PM CDT

Dozens Vanish From Mexican Highway

Drug cartels may be returning to attacking the public

(Newser) - As many as 50 people are missing after setting out on three-hour car trips this year between Mexico's industrial hub of Monterrey and the border city of Nuevo Laredo, on a well-traveled stretch of road the local media have dubbed "the highway of death." Relatives say family...

Trailer Full of Corpses Left Outside Mexican City

Morgue couldn't cope with wave of violent crime

(Newser) - A trailer with at least 100 decomposing corpses was left on the outskirts of Guadalajara but it wasn't yet another drug cartel atrocity: Officials say it was brought there because a wave of violence has left local mortuaries completely full. Residents say they complained to authorities about the terrible...

Tip Leads Mexico Police to Remains of 166 People

Mass graves uncovered in Veracruz state

(Newser) - Investigators said Thursday they have found 166 skulls in clandestine burial pits in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, one of the biggest mass graves discovered so far in Mexico. Veracruz state prosecutor Jorge Winckler said that for security reasons he would not reveal the location of the site. Mexican...

Malala Stands With Mexican Nobel Crasher

Says she wasn't afraid, 'there are problems in Mexico'

(Newser) - Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai today expressed sympathy for a Mexican asylum seeker who jumped onto the stage during the award ceremony yesterday in Oslo, and said the incident didn't frighten her. The 17-year-old laureate from Pakistan said young people the world over face problems. "As (he)...

Mexico Busts Drug Lord Hiding in Plain Sight

Feds arrest Hector Beltran Leyva in sleepy mountain city

(Newser) - San Miguel de Allende is a sleepy artists' enclave nestled in the mountains of central Mexico, equally popular with artists and retired Americans. But the city jolted awake yesterday as federal special forces swept into a seafood restaurant and nabbed one of the nation's most notorious drug lords, Hector...

Mexico Arrests Suspected Drug Capo Wanted in US

US offered $5M reward for capture of Tirso Martinez Sanchez

(Newser) - Mexican officials say federal police have arrested a man suspected of leading a drug cartel that moved 76 tons of cocaine into the US between 2000 and 2003. The US posted a $5 million reward for the capture of Tirso Martinez Sanchez, who was arrested yesterday in the city of...

Mexico Drug Cartels Move Into ... Mining?

Criminals tighten hold on country's economy

(Newser) - Mexican drug cartels are expanding their Mafia-like hold on the country's economy by diversifying into many other sectors, even including mining, the AP finds. Officials say that in addition to stealing shipments of iron ore and extorting payments from transport and mining companies, the cartels are now illegally extracting...

Search for 2 Mexico Cops Turns Up 42 Bodies

Officers admit handing victims over to drug cartel

(Newser) - A search for two missing federal detectives in western Mexico has turned up 42 bodies and counting—but still no trace of the missing men. Many of the bodies found in almost two dozen mass graves over the last few weeks were bound and gagged and some showed signs of...

US to Mexico: Please Arrest Kingpin You Just Freed

Rafael Caro Quintero could be extradited

(Newser) - Mexico released drug kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero last week , 12 years shy of his 40-year sentence for ordering the murder of an American DEA agent, and now the US has asked Mexico to kindly re-arrest him, the New York Times reports. The US wants to extradite Caro Quintero, and the...

How a Lone, Violence-Weary Snitch Felled Mexico Boss

Inside the capture of Teodoro 'El Teo' Garcia Simental

(Newser) - In the wake of the capture of a major Mexican crime boss last week, the Los Angeles Times has the untold story of a similar bust three years ago—when savage drug kingpin Teodoro "El Teo" Garcia Simental was brought down by an insider who was just tired of...

Mexican Drug Cartels Push Deep Into US
 Mexican Cartels 
 Push Deep Into US 
investigation
Apr 1, 2013 7:56 AM CDT

Mexican Cartels Push Deep Into US

Cartels increasingly sending agents beyond the border

(Newser) - Mexican drug cartels have long dispatched agents to border states, but a new AP investigation finds that operatives are now infiltrating much deeper into the US, with problems arising in areas from the Chicago suburbs to rural North Carolina. Typically, middlemen have been used to smuggle drugs over the border...

Mexico Cartels Recruit Kids as Killers

They become hit men, cannon fodder, says report

(Newser) - As if Mexico's cartels weren't bad enough, a new report explains that they're ensnaring young teens to use as killers and "cannon fodder," reports Wired . A key passage from the report (pdf), which actually takes a much broader look at the cartels in general:
  • "
...

Mexico: Slain Beauty Queen Had Gun in Her Hands

But investigators suspect she was used as human shield

(Newser) - A Mexican beauty queen killed in a shootout between suspected drug traffickers and soldiers likely was being used as a human shield, a federal official says. Maria Susana Flores Gamez, crowned 2012 Woman of Sinaloa in February, came out of the car first with a gun in her hands during...

Mexican Beauty Queen Killed in Shootout

20-year-old may have fired back at army

(Newser) - A Mexican beauty queen was shot dead in a gun battle between the military and the drug traffickers she was traveling with, a crime that echoed a recent hit Mexican movie. The body of Maria Susana Flores Gamez, the 20-year-old winner of a statewide beauty contest in Sinaloa, was found...

To Prove Zetas Boss Is Dead: Dig Up His Parents?

Lazcano body was whisked away, so cops need parents' DNA for ID

(Newser) - Mexican officials are considering exhuming the remains of the parents of killed Los Zetas cartel boss Heriberto Lazcano. Mexico announced earlier this month that Lazcano had been shot down by Marines. But his body was spirited out of a funeral where it was being held, reports the BBC . Now officials...

Mexico: Zetas Boss Killed in Firefight

'Executioner' Lazcano blamed for hundreds of killings

(Newser) - The leader of the bloodthirsty Zetas drug cartel has apparently been killed in a firefight with marines in the northern border state of Coahuila, the Mexican navy said yesterday. The navy said there was strong evidence the body of one of two men killed in the shootout was Heriberto Lazcano,...

Mexico Captures 'El Taliban' Cartel Boss

Zetas arrest could end surge in massacres

(Newser) - Mexico appears to have struck a major blow against one faction of the hyper-violent Zetas cartel. The country's navy says it has captured one of the country's most-wanted drug traffickers, Ivan Velazquez Caballero, known as "El Taliban." The drug lord has been fighting a bloody internal...

Mexico City Replaces All Airport Cops After Shootout

New federal officers all passed rigorous background checks

(Newser) - Following the June airport shooting deaths of three federal officers, Mexico has taken the drastic step of replacing all 348 security officers at the Mexico City International Airport with federal police. Since the June shooting was perpetrated by three fellow security officers suspected of being involved in cocaine trafficking, just...

Drug War Drives Mexicans to Armored Cars

It's a sign of how drastic violence is there

(Newser) - Why did Mexico soundly oust its ruling party in yesterday's election? ABC News points to a trend that might explain: Drug violence in the country is so bad that a growing number of ordinary families are investing in armored cars. "I would say in the last four years,...

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