Essay: Mexico’s slow slide towards vigilante violence
In an article first published on The Conversation, AMELENDU MISRA sounds a warning about the prevalence of mob justice in today’s Mexico…
Mexican church officials have helped arrange a truce between two warring drug cartels
Mexico City, Mexico AP Roman Catholic churchmen have helped arrange a truce between two warring drug cartels whose turf wars have blooded the state of Guerrero in southern Mexico, a priest said last week. It is the latest in a series of attempts by bishops and priests to get cartels to talk to each other in hopes […]
Catholic bishops in Mexico say they negotiated for possible peace accord with drug cartel leaders
Mexico City, Mexico AP Four Roman Catholic bishops met with Mexican drug cartel bosses in a bid to negotiate a possible peace accord, one of the bishops said, and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Thursday he approves of such talks. The revelation by Bishop of Chilpancingo-Chilapa, José de Jesús González Hernández, in remarks at […]
In Mexico, mothers of the missing turn to drones to look for unmarked graves
Guadalajara, Mexico Reuters Maria Aguilar has been searching for her son for over a decade. She, like thousands of Mexicans whose loved ones are missing, has spent countless days scanning vast tracts of barren land for clues, in the hope of finding his remains. Now Aguilar and the “missing persons” collective she founded will be […]
Mexico high schoolers take up arms after village kidnappings
Acapulco, Mexico Reuters A volunteer police force in rural Mexico that says it has been overwhelmed by local kidnappings has recruited schoolchildren as young as 12 to join its ranks, the latest sign of how some parts of the country are struggling to cope with organised crime. Armed with rifles and sticks, and with their […]
Mexico arrests Ovidio Guzman, son of ‘El Chapo’, city engulfed by violence
Mexico City, Mexico Reuters Mexican drug cartel leader Ovidio Guzman, a son of jailed kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was arrested, unleashing a violent backlash by gang gunmen on Thursday that shut the airport in the city of Culiacan as authorities told residents to stay indoors. Defence Minister Luis Cresencio Sandoval told a news conference […]
Mexico’s missing: As numbers mount, families keep searching
STEFANIE ESCHENBACHER and MAHE ELIPE, of Reuters, report on how families are involved in the ongoing search to find the more than 100,000 people missing in Mexico…
Explainer: What led to priests being killed in Mexico?
Mexico City, MexicoAP Two Jesuit priests and a tour guide murdered in Mexico’s Sierra Tarahumara this week are the latest in a long line of activists, reporters, travellers and local residents who have been threatened or killed by criminal gangs that dominate the region. Revs Javier Campos, 79, and Joaquín Mora, 80, had spent much […]
Mexico’s official ‘disappeared’ list grows to more than 100,000
Mexico City, MexicoReuters The number of people officially listed as disappeared in Mexico has risen to more than 100,000, government data showed on Monday, as family groups called on authorities to do more to find victims of violence linked to organised crime. The Interior Ministry’s national registry of missing people dates back to 1964 and […]
Colombia cartel shuts down towns over leader’s extradition
Bogota, ColombiaAP The Gulf Clan drug cartel shut down dozens of towns in northern Colombia for four days in reaction to its leader being extradited to the US for trial. It warned that anyone who disobeyed the stay-at-home order risked being shot or having their vehicle burned. Businesses closed, schools stayed shut, intercity bus service […]