Cartels Come Down Hard on Mexican Cops

(NEWSER) - Mexico’s disastrous drug war, which threatens to send millions of refugees into the southern US, is a problem of our own making, Mark Krikorian writes in the National Review. But while America’s drug lust—and its burgeoning counterpart in Mexico itself—can’t be fixed, tighter border regulations could blunt the pain of a state that isn’t failed—“yet.” More»

(NEWSER) - Arizona’s three state universities are following the State Department and attempting to dissuade students from spending spring break in Mexican border towns, a traditional pastime, because of drug-associated violence there, the AP reports. One federal official called the warning “sage advice,” noting “documented violence, attacks, killings” and gunfire in public places. “Innocent people have been caught up in that collateral damage,” he said. More»

Authorities believe anti-military protesters are in the pay of drug cartels

(NEWSER) - Civilian protesters suspected of being in the pay of drug traffickers have blocked Mexican bridges to the US in recent days, demanding that the military leave their cities, the Dallas Morning News reports. Officials see the demonstrations—dubbed "narco-protests"—as a worrying new development amid a wave of violence already being likened to civil war. More»

Mexico sends in thousands of troops to quell further fighting

(NEWSER) - A gunfight between Tijuana drug cartel rivals left 15 dead and eight wounded near the US border today, Reuters reports. The worst violence in Mexico's 3-year drug war, it filled a city road with bodies and took the lives of two top hit men from the Arellano Felix cartel. "Today shows we are facing a terrible war never seen before on the (U.S.-Mexico) border," said Baja California Attorney General Rommel Moreno. More»

Law-enforcement gaps, budget woes give traffickers upper hand

(NEWSER) - In its battle against drug traffickers, the Mexican army fights not just the cartels but also a lethal combination of corruption, power vacuums, and even geography. Desertion rates are high, salaries low, and the assignment difficult if not impossible. The LA Times visits Apatzingan, a drug-war hotspot whose police chief was shot in an ambush this week and promptly resigned. More»