Mexican drug war

Stories 101 - 120 | << Prev   Next >>

US Ambassador to Mexico Quits Over Cables Flap

Carlos Pascual called Mexico's police inefficient and risk-averse

(Newser) - WikiLeaks has toppled its highest-ranking US official yet—the US ambassador to Mexico, Carlos Pascual. In diplomatic cables, Pascual called Mexico's police and armed forces corrupt, risk averse, inefficient, and "reliant on the United States for leads and operations," which really didn't sit well with Mexico's conservative, nationalist...

5 Kids Killed in 5 Days in Acapulco

Youngest victim just 2 as crisis that's claimed 35K continues

(Newser) - The body of 4-year-old girl who had been shot in the chest was discovered yesterday, the fifth child killed in less than a week as drug violence rages on in Acapulco. The girl was found in a car next to a woman who’d been shot several times; police didn’...

US Drones Quietly Spy on Mexico Drug Lords

Flights kept hush-hush because they're probably illegal

(Newser) - The Obama administration has begun sending high-altitude spy drones deep into Mexican territory to keep an eye on the movements of drug traffickers, the New York Times reports. The information is intended to be shared with Mexican law enforcement, and Felipe Calderón formally agreed to the flights in his...

Mexico Cans Police Chief, 20, Who Fled

Marisol Valles Garcia was apparently seeking asylum after death threats

(Newser) - A 20-year-old police chief in a violent Mexican border town was fired today for apparently abandoning her post after receiving death threats. Marisol Valles Garcia was granted a leave of absence from March 2-7 to travel to the United States, but "Since there was no notification of a need...

Bungled ATF Sting Put Guns in Hands of Drug Cartels

...and one was linked to the murder of Border Patrol agent

(Newser) - A bungled Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms sting operation allowed hundreds of guns to fall into the hands of Mexican criminals, and more than one ATF agent is now saying "I told you so." The bureau hoped to trace the guns from American sellers to the top...

ICE Busts Hundreds in 168-City Gang Sweep

Half of those nabbed in multi-city raids have Mexican cartel links

(Newser) - A vast multi-city gang sweep shows the extent to which Mexican drug cartels have penetrated American cities—and, say federal officials, the extent to which the government is willing to go to take them down. Some 678 gang members, including 421 nationals, were busted in 168 cities during Project Southern...

Mexico: Cartel Goofed When Suspects Killed US Agent

Agents' SUV mistook for vehicle of rival gang

(Newser) - The Feb. 15 killing of a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was a case of mistaken identity, a suspect told soldiers. Julian Zapata Espinoza and five other suspected members of the Zetas drug gang were captured during an army raid yesterday, and the army says the Zetas gunmen thought...

Alleged Cartel Hit Men on Trial in California

Tijuana drug boss ordered killings in US

(Newser) - Three men are on trial in San Diego for what a prosecutor calls "another glaring example of cross-border violence." The trio are accused of plotting to murder a California family on the orders of Tijuana drug barons, the AP reports. Prosecutors say the men were offered $25,000...

Parents of 25 Abandoned Kids Likely Kidnapped

Boys and girls found wandering streets of Nuevo Laredo on Monday

(Newser) - More sad news from Mexico: The parents of 25 children found abandoned in a Mexican border city on Monday were likely kidnapped, according to an official. The eight boys and 17 girls, who reportedly range from a few months in age to 10 years old, were found wandering the streets...

Mexican Cartel Claims to Have Retired

La Familia dissolved, banners say

(Newser) - Banners have appeared in the heartland of Mexico's La Familia drug cartel claiming that the criminal organization has been dissolved but authorities are understandably skeptical. The cartel, one of Mexico's most brutal, declared a month-long truce earlier this month and authorities believe that it is weakened and in disarray but...

Gunmen Kill 7 at Mexico Soccer Game

Researcher predicts 5K will be killed in Ciudad Juarez this year

(Newser) - Seven young men were killed when gunmen traveling in three vehicles opened fire on a soccer game in Ciudad Juarez. At least one player was among the dead. Police say they haven't determined a motive for the shooting, which took place at a park opened last year as part of...

Mexican Reporter Pleads Today for US Asylum

Journalist says he received death threats daily before fleeing

(Newser) - A Mexican journalist who says he fled across the border with his teenage son in 2008 after receiving daily death threats while covering his nation's bloody drug war is scheduled to plead his case for asylum before a US federal judge today. Emilio Gutierrez Soto and his son, then 15,...

Vicente Fox: It's Time to Legalize Drugs

Mexico's former president says prohibition isn't working

(Newser) - When he was president, Vicente Fox was a huge proponent of Mexico’s war on drugs. But with his nation reeling from the drug-related violence that claimed 12,000 lives last year alone, Fox has done a 180. He now believes production, transit, and distribution of narcotics—and not just...

13 Killed, 14 Decapitated in Hours in Acapulco

Wave of violence sweeps tourist mecca

(Newser) - This won't exactly help tourism: Acapulco, once known more for its white sand than its white powder, began its weekend with 27 drug cartel-related murders in a matter of hours. Police found 14 decapitated men, along with a 15th corpse, in a shopping center alongside handwritten warnings from a Sinaloa...

Top Mexican Drug Cartel Calls Truce ... for One Month

La Familia claims break will prove it's not as bad as reports indicate

(Newser) - When it comes to Mexican drug cartels, members of La Familia are apparently the good guys. A one-month truce in the western state of Michoacan was announced yesterday in a letter supposedly signed by the gang. In the message, circulated through email and distributed door-to-door in some cities, the cartel...

Mexico Arrests Alleged Hit Man—Age 14

He's accused of taking part in beheadings for cartel

(Newser) - A notorious hit man in Mexico known for beheading his victims and displaying them in public is a US-born kid all of 14 years old, reports AP . Mexican authorities arrested the youth identified only as Edgar—who they say goes by "El Ponchis," or the cloaked one—as...

20 Bodies Found in Latest Mexican Mass Grave

Hours earlier, new female police chief is gunned down

(Newser) - Mexican soldiers acting on information received from captured cartel members have made yet another grisly find. At least 20 bodies were found buried at a ranch in Chihuahua state, AP reports. Authorities are still digging in the area and trying to determine how the 19 men and one woman were...

Mexico Sending More Troops to Violent Border Zone

Cartel boss Carlos Montemayor busted

(Newser) - Mexico says it is deploying extra troops and federal police to reassert its authority in two states bordering the US. Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon have become a battleground for the Gulf and Zetas cartels, and cities like Monterrey, once considered relatively safe, have seen a huge surge in violence. The...

Mexican Drug Honcho Killed in Shootout

Fed sting in border town yields top prize

(Newser) - Shots rang out for hours in a pitched gun battle between Mexico's military and a drug cartel, and when the dust cleared, a key drug kingpin, Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen, or "Tony the Storm," lay dead along with four cronies and three marines. Cardenas, 48, is one of...

Drug Bust Uncovers 1,800-Foot Tunnel

25-ton seizure is one of the largest in San Diego history

(Newser) - US officials seized more than 25 tons of marijuana from drug warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana after finding a 1,800-foot tunnel linking the two. The lighted, ventilated tunnel—which is about six football fields long—was discovered after officials found 10 tons of marijuana in a suspicious tractor-trailer,...

Stories 101 - 120 | << Prev   Next >>