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 […]
Priests differ on call to arms in violence-torn Mexico state
Mexico CityAP Even for the violence-wracked Mexican state of Michoacan, it was surprising when a priest called from the pulpit for parishioners to arm themselves against warring drug gangs. “The cartel gunmen come, they take the livestock, they screw your wife and daughter, and you do nothing,” Rev Alfredo Gallegos said in a sermon. ”Well, […]
At drug war frontline, Pope’s envoy says Mexico hushed him
Aguililla, Mexico Reuters The Vatican’s Ambassador to Mexico on Friday said officials three years ago had asked him not to talk about the extreme violence that has swept the country during more than a decade of fighting between drug cartels, so as not to scare away tourists. The envoy, Franco Coppola, made the comments while […]
Mexico human trafficking cases stall as coronavirus bites
Mexico City, MexicoThomson Reuters Foundation Investigations into human trafficking in Mexico stagnated in 2020 after two years of sharp growth, with activists saying that authorities had struggled to adapt as the crime evolved and recruitment shifted online during the coronavirus pandemic. State authorities launched 551 trafficking cases last year – up one per cent from […]
From children to young men, more than 73,000 are missing, Mexico says
Mexico City, MexicoThomson Reuters Foundation More than 73,000 people are missing in Mexico, the government said on Monday, some 11,500 more than in a previous total and a grim statistic underscoring the rights abuses suffered since the country began a militarised push against drug cartels. A quarter of the missing are female, and the tally […]
ESSAY: CARTEL SIEGES LEAVE MEXICANS WONDERING IF CRIMINALS RUN THE COUNTRY
In an article first publsihed on The Conversation, ANGÉLICA DURAN-MARTINEZ, associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in the US, looks at the causes – and possible solutions – to recent violence in Mexico…
Asia-Pacific meth drug trade worth up to $US61 billion, UN says
Bangkok, ThailandReuters Transnational crime groups are trafficking vast quantities of methamphetamine made in South-East Asia, the United Nations said on Thursday, putting the value of the Asia-Pacific market for the drug between $US30.3 billion and $US61.4 billion. The explosion in the meth trade, from an estimated $US15 billion in 2013, comes as powerful syndicates exploit […]
Drug cartels’ ties to politics in spotlight as Guatemala votes
Nueva Concepcion, GuatemalaReuters The mayor of Nueva Concepcion, a town on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, stands accused by prosecutors of drug trafficking and money laundering for Mexican cartels that use the coastal route to transport cocaine to the US. Yet Otoniel Lima, who rides around his poor municipality of 130,000 people in an armored […]
Seven each day: Mexican women murders on the rise amid drug wars
Thomson Reuters Foundation More than seven women are killed on average every day in Mexico, with numbers surging in recent years amidst the country’s brutal drug wars, a report by the Mexican government and United Nations said. A third of more than 50,000 murders of women in the past three decades have occurred in the […]
Mexico still ‘most dangerous country to be a priest’
A bishop forced to pay protection money to use his own cathedral is the latest example of why, for the eighth year running, Mexico is considered the most dangerous country to be a Catholic priest. Mexico’s Catholic Media Centre’s latest annual report says at least 15 priests have been murdered in the past three years alone, while there have been […]