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NEWS ABOUT: Mexican drug war

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Cancun Cops Probe Grisly Murders of 7

Strangled victims were 'independent drug dealers,' officials say

(Newser) - Police in the Mexican vacation hotspot of Cancun have arrested seven suspects after finding five men and two women murdered in a shack, Reuters reports. Six victims had been strangled to death and a seventh had been decapitated. "It looks like the victims were independent drug dealers without any... More »

Mexican Cartels Push Deep Into US

Cartels increasingly sending agents beyond the border

(Newser) - Mexican drug cartels have long dispatched agents to border states, but a new AP investigation finds that operatives are now infiltrating much deeper into the US, with problems arising in areas from the Chicago suburbs to rural North Carolina. Typically, middlemen have been used to smuggle drugs over the border... More »

Mexico Cartels Recruit Kids as Killers

They become hit men, cannon fodder, says report

(Newser) - As if Mexico's cartels weren't bad enough, a new report explains that they're ensnaring young teens to use as killers and "cannon fodder," reports Wired . A key passage from the report (pdf), which actually takes a much broader look at the cartels in general:
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Report Bashes Mexico for 20K+ Who 'Disappeared'

Human Rights Watch slams gov't for kidnappings, corruption

(Newser) - With upwards of 20,000 people having disappeared during the six-year presidency of Felipe Calderón, which ended Dec. 1, human rights observers are slamming the Mexican police and military for its corruption and brutality, reports the Los Angeles Times . Many of those disappeared were taken by Mexico's notorious... More »

Mexico Band Massacre: Survivor Led Cops to Bodies

He managed to escape the armed men

(Newser) - Cops searching for a missing band in Mexico have pulled 18 bodies from a well after being led there by a band member who survived the massacre of his bandmates. The survivor says that after Kombo Kolombia played at a bar, armed men arrived and ordered them into vehicles, the... More »

16-Member Mexican Band Feared Murdered

Bodies found after Kombo Kolombia vanishes

(Newser) - Members of a Colombian-style band who disappeared after a gig in northern Mexico last week have become the latest musicians to be kidnapped and murdered by drug gangs, authorities fear. The 16-man Kombo Kolombia band and four of its roadies were reported missing early Friday; investigators have now discovered at... More »

Mexico: Calderon Drug War Spawned 60 New Cartels

New AG says just 10 big ones existed when Calderon took office

(Newser) - The bloody war President Felipe Calderon launched in 2006 to squash Mexico's big drug cartels instead created scores of smaller ones, the country's new attorney general says. "I would calculate there are between 60 and 80 (new cartels), both medium-sized and small," Jesus Murillo told Mexican... More »

25K Missing in Mexican Drug War

Leaked list arrives day before Calderon's exit

(Newser) - More than 100,000 murders were recorded in Mexico during Felipe Calderon's presidency—and now, a day before he leaves office, a staggering new figure has emerged. Some 25,000 people have gone missing over the past six years, according to an unreleased list by the country's attorney... More »

Mexico: Slain Beauty Queen Had Gun in Her Hands

But investigators suspect she was used as human shield

(AP) - A Mexican beauty queen killed in a shootout between suspected drug traffickers and soldiers likely was being used as a human shield, a federal official says. Maria Susana Flores Gamez, crowned 2012 Woman of Sinaloa in February, came out of the car first with a gun in her hands during... More »

Mexican Beauty Queen Killed in Shootout

20-year-old may have fired back at army

(Newser) - A Mexican beauty queen was shot dead in a gun battle between the military and the drug traffickers she was traveling with, a crime that echoed a recent hit Mexican movie. The body of Maria Susana Flores Gamez, the 20-year-old winner of a statewide beauty contest in Sinaloa, was found... More »

2-Year-Old Mass Graves Uncovered in Mexico

Bodies of 11 men found in them, near US-Mexico border

(Newser) - Mexican authorities have discovered 19 bodies—some old, some new—near the US border. Eleven of the bodies were found in mass graves, where they appear to have rested for two years, officials say. Those bodies were buried amid intense fighting between drug cartels in the area, near Ciudad Juarez,... More »

Mexico Nabs Cartel Leader: Officials

Alleged local Zetas boss said to have ties with cartel's top commander

(Newser) - Mexico has arrested an alleged local leader of the violent Zetas drug cartel, which has taken control of much of Coahuila state, the country's navy says. Said Omar Juarez was captured in the state's capital, Saltillo, with weapons and what appeared to be cocaine and marijuana, the navy'... More »

To Prove Zetas Boss Is Dead: Dig Up His Parents?

Lazcano body was whisked away, so cops need parents' DNA for ID

(Newser) - Mexican officials are considering exhuming the remains of the parents of killed Los Zetas cartel boss Heriberto Lazcano. Mexico announced earlier this month that Lazcano had been shot down by Marines. But his body was spirited out of a funeral where it was being held, reports the BBC . Now officials... More »

Honduras City Now World's Most Violent

San Pedro Sula becomes murder capital

(Newser) - A surge in drug-related violence has made San Pedro Sula in Honduras the murder capital of the world. Some 1,143 of its 719,447 residents were murdered in 2011, giving it a murder rate of 159 people per 100,000 citizens—even higher than Mexico's Ciudad Juarez, which... More »

Mexico: Zetas Boss Killed in Firefight

'Executioner' Lazcano blamed for hundreds of killings

(AP) - The leader of the bloodthirsty Zetas drug cartel has apparently been killed in a firefight with marines in the northern border state of Coahuila, the Mexican navy said yesterday. The navy said there was strong evidence the body of one of two men killed in the shootout was Heriberto Lazcano,... More »

Mexico Captures 'El Taliban' Cartel Boss

Zetas arrest could end surge in massacres

(AP) - Mexico appears to have struck a major blow against one faction of the hyper-violent Zetas cartel. The country's navy says it has captured one of the country's most-wanted drug traffickers, Ivan Velazquez Caballero, known as "El Taliban." The drug lord has been fighting a bloody internal... More »

Mexico Rocked as Hackers Revolt for Independence Day

Protesters slam election, violence, corruption

(Newser) - Mexican hackers took over several government and other websites in an Independence Day protest yesterday. The "Mexican Cyber" protest targeted public agencies, political parties, and the media, and replaced hacked pages with messages slamming the presidential election, corruption, drug violence, and economic problems, reports the BBC . "This a... More »

Mexican Teen Hitman Suspected in 50 Murders

Alleged cartel assassin Francisco Miguel N., age 16, is arrested

(Newser) - Initially, police arrested Francisco Miguel N. for carrying a gun and drugs. But once he was in custody, the 16-year-old from Sinola made a confession: He was an assassin for Los Mazatlecos, a criminal group attached to the Beltran Leyva drug cartel. Now prosecutors believe the teen participated in at... More »

Mexico Nabs Gulf Cartel Boss 'Fatso'

Arrest seen as major blow to fading drug war power

(Newser) - In a huge victory for President Felipe Calderón, Mexican authorities have arrested the head of the infamous Gulf Cartel: Mario Cardenas, alias "Fatso." Marines captured Cardenas in a raid in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas on Monday, and authorities showed him off to the media yesterday, Reuters... More »

Mexico City Replaces All Airport Cops After Shootout

New federal officers all passed rigorous background checks

(Newser) - Following the June airport shooting deaths of three federal officers, Mexico has taken the drastic step of replacing all 348 security officers at the Mexico City International Airport with federal police. Since the June shooting was perpetrated by three fellow security officers suspected of being involved in cocaine trafficking, just... More »

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