Mexico drug cartels

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Amid Storm of Violence, Mexicans Find Unlikely Refuge

Crime-ridden Mexico City is now looking pretty good

(Newser) - As the bloody stain of drug violence seeps into Mexico's border towns and resort areas alike, Mexicans are taking refuge in a place that would have been unthinkable even five short years ago: Mexico City. The capital city, long known as a place where cops could be bought and petty...

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...

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...

Mexican Mom Police Chief Seeks US Asylum

Single mom took dangerous job last year when no one else would

(Newser) - A 20-year-old single mom and criminology student who became police chief of her small Mexican border town has fled to the United States to seek asylum, reports AFP . Marisol Valles Garcia "received death threats from a criminal group that wanted to force her to work for them," her...

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...

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...

Kidnapping Leaves Mexican Town Without Police

Female officer snatched, house torched

(Newser) - A lawless Mexican town is now left without a police force after the last cop in town was kidnapped and likely killed. Officer Erika Gandara was snatched and her house torched last week by suspected drug cartel gunmen. All of her colleagues had already quit or been killed in Guadelupe's...

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