Drug Lords to Mexican Cops: Join Us or Die

Jorge Luis Aguirre got death threat in 2008

(AP) - A Mexican journalist who was the target of death threats like those made by drug cartels says he has been granted asylum in the US in a case believed to be the first of its kind since the country's bloody drug war began. Death threats are at the heart of thousands of Mexican asylum requests received each year by the US, which grants only a fraction of the petitions. Even people who cross the border with fresh bullet wounds or whose family members have been tortured by drug gangs can face long odds. More»

(NEWSER) - As drug violence soars in Mexico, casualties are spreading to the Yucatan peninsula, a major tourist destination and spring break hot spot. Twelve decapitated bodies were found near the popular ruins of Chichen Itza this week, the Los Angeles Times reports. That's because a government crackdown has heightened “a kind of civil war among drug cartels,” said a drug-trafficking expert. And that violence is spilling over from the usual frontlines along the US border. More»

Country sees increasing torture, beheadings, violence against women

(NEWSER) - The sixth year of Mexico's murderous war against drug cartels claimed a staggering 12,000 lives, according to bleak tallies being reported in the Mexican press that show upticks in beheadings, torture, and violence against women and children. There is no official number from Felipe Calderon's government, which the Washington Post notes has backed off promises to keep figures updated; Calderon's party faces elections this summer. More than 50,000 have now died since Calderon declared war on the cartels in 2006. A breakdown of the numbers: More»

Once-thriving city falling victim to drug cartel violence

(NEWSER) - Mexico's future may well be playing out on the streets of the city of Monterrey, says Reuters in a special report. The city had once been a shining model of entrepreneurial success, a lure for foreign companies, and a symbol of Mexico's global ambition. Now it's on the brink of succumbing to the chaos and violence associated with the drug gangs' battles with each other and the government. "The trend is worrying," says the chief executive of Cemex, one of the world's biggest cement companies. "But we won't let Monterrey fall." More»

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 Mexico's most wanted and has a $5 million reward on his head in the US, and died in a sting operation in the border town of Matamoros, reports the AP. More»