From the Global Organized Crime Blog: Wordplay is an important skill for politicians and diplomats, who routinely solve dilemmas by substituting one phrase for another, replacing ‘hot-button’ words with language that may not change reality, but which invariably gives players the ‘wiggle-room’ they need to back-off, rethink, renegotiate, regroup, or retreat from battles plainly lost. […]
President Calderón’s PAN party is in a tough spot. Drug violence dominates media headlines, with many Mexican newspapers publishing extended obits of victims. For the most part, Mexico’s president explains the surging violence as proof-positive that the government’s crackdown is working. Regardless, many Mexicans care more about jobs and the economy than the drug gangs. […]
In a sad indicator that Mexico’s drug violence has reached a new level, 72 bodies were found on a ranch near Monterrey, about 100 miles south of the U.S. border. The 58 men, 14 women were believed to be illegal immigrants, crossing through Mexico from Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Honduras. The lone survivor, who […]
At a conference on Wednesday, President Calderón asked prosecutors and judges turned the tables on those used to asking the questions. Why were so few of those arrested for violent crimes in Mexico being punished? Documents obtained by the Associated Press indicate that only about 15 percent of those arrested between December 2006 and September […]
Rodrigo Camarena, over at the Brazil blog, has published a briefing on the cooperation between Mexico’s PAN and PRD in state elections. The awkward coalition pairs the relatively stoic process for internal disputes and leadership changes in the PAN, and the squabbles that saw the PRD’s rapid fall from grace after the 2006 presidential election. […]
Telefónica’s Cesar Alierta prepares to challenge Carlos Slims’ plans for Brazil Spain’s Telefónica announced today the successful takeover of leading Brazilian mobile operator Vivo after weeks of strained negotiations with its joint-owner Portugal Telecom (PT). The move will allow Telefónica to merge its fixed landline services with Vivo’s national mobile network and begin offering Brazilian […]
Ignacio Coronel Villarreal is described as one of the Sinaloa’s drug syndicates top three. Villarreal, known as “Nacho,” was believed to oversee the Siñaloa group’s operations in the western states of Colima, Nayarit, and Jalisco. He was killed after opening fire on law enforcement, closing in on his hideout in an upscale neighborhood of Guadalajara. […]
The recent car bomb set off in Juarez marked an escalation in Mexico’s drug wars. After police and medical workers were lured to the car’s location, the bomb was detonated using a cell phone, killing three innocent men. Similar tactics denoted Colombia and Iraq’s spiral into anarchy, but this was the first time a car bomb […]
More than 50 “drug subs” have been seized by law enforcement from Ecuador to Mexico over recent months. Many of these vessels are considered “semi submersibles,” capable of travelling 5-10 meters below the water’s surface and carrying hundreds or thousands of pounds of drugs. At this depth, they tend to leave a surface wake, allowing […]
Gang violence threatened voter turnout in last weekend’s state elections. A leading candidate in the state of Tamaulipas and a well-known musician were assassinated in the week before, campaign offices were bombed, and bodies were even hung from bridges on the morning of the election. But Mexico’s democracy endured: voter turnout was relatively high, “an […]
Nazario Moreno, leader of La Familia, is known as El Mas Loco. He insists his followers do not use the meth they traffic through Mexico and the United States. For spiritual guidance, Moreno has authored a bible, Pensamientos, to guide the syndicate’s members, and he insists on prayer meetings before operations are launched. El Mas […]
I have not seen that before. In Mexico City on Sunday, Christian Hernandez, decked out in traditionally garish attire of gold and pink (!), didn’t like what he saw when the giant bull made its appearance. Sizing up the half ton of muscle trailing 13 inches behind the tip of two horns must have had […]
On June 7, a 15-year-old Mexican high school student was shot dead by US Border Patrol agents. He and his friends were reported to be throwing rocks at the US agents from the Mexican side of the El Paso-Juárez border crossing. In the aftermath of the incident Mexican forces apparently drew their arms against the […]
Mexico and South Africa played to 1-1 tie in the opening day of the 2010 World Cup. What would’ve been a ho-hum performance is anything but for the kickoff game against the hosting team, affectionately called Bafana Bafana. South Africa drew first blood at the 55-minute mark, when Siphewe Tshabalala scored. Mexico drew even off […]
There are currently 340 US soldiers helping to secure the United States’ southern border. To that, President Obama has ordered an additional 1,200 national guardsmen to support border patrol agents. They will not be directly confronting undocumented immigrants, but they will be performing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions, freeing up border agents. It is a […]