Central Americans May Be Ready for Their Own Arab Spring The spread of gangs, the U.S. narcotics trade, and rampant corruption are major factors contributing to mass migration and alarmingly high levels of violence. Tens of thousands of Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Hondurans, many of them unaccompanied minors, have arrived in the United States in recent years,…
Category: Cartel Corner
Cartel Corner #54: How El Chapo Got his Gun
You’ve probably heard the news that when Mexican authorities raided the hideout of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, the head of the murderous Sinaloa drug cartel, on Jan. 8, they recovered a .50-caliber Barrett rifle that was trafficked through the ATF’s disastrous “Fast and Furious” debacle. What you may not know, but probably suspected, is that…
Border Security Update: Mexican National Attacks Border Patrol Agent with Rock
A U.S. Border Patrol agent has been attacked with a football-sized rock by a Mexican national running narcotics in the Tucson Sector–an area controlled by Mexico’s Sinaloa Federation (cartel). The agent is recovering and was able to arrest the criminal despite being injured. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP): TUCSON, Ariz. –A suspected…
Texas Border Security Update: Gulf Cartel Drugs and Weapons Way Station Raided in Brownsville, TX
BROWNSVILLE, Texas — County authorities in this border region raided a Mexican drug cartel weapons, cash, and narcotics way station that was being used to store ammunition and weapons that would be sent to drug cartels in Mexico and narcotics moving north. The raid took place Tuesday night in Brownsville when investigators with the Cameron…
Cartel Corner #50: Gulf Cartel Gunmen Ambush Mexican Intelligence Agents
CIUDAD MANTE, Tamaulipas — A team of cartel gunmen recently ambushed a squad of Mexican federal police officers near this Mexican city. The ambush turned into a pursuit and eventually a rescue effort as law enforcement officials searched for some of their missing comrades. Members of the intelligence division from Mexico’s Federal Police were ambushed last…
Cartel Corner #49: El Chapo in the Same Prison!? Same Song, Same Dance….
El Chapo Could Soon Be Back in the Same Cell He Escaped From Last Time Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán woke up this morning for the fifth time since his recapture last Friday in the maximum-security Altiplano prison — the same prison the drug lord escaped from in July 2015. Mexico’s interior minister has said he…
Cartel Corner #48: El Chapo’s Top Hitman Caught by Mexican Authorities
Joaquín Guzmán Loera wasn’t the only major organized crime figured captured Friday in Los Mochis. His chief of sicarios — the cartel’s main hitman — was also taken in by elements from the Mexican Navy. His name is Iván Gastelum Cruz, also known as El Cholo Iván, and he was also a fugitive. Gastelum had…
Cartel Corner #47: 10 Things El Chapo Revealed in Interview
Last night, Rolling Stone magazine published an interview with Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán Loera, conducted by Hollywood actor Sean Penn. Mexican actress Kate del Castillo was also present at the meeting, which took place last September 28. Penn later made a detailed narration of the events for the magazine, and recalled a 7-hour conversation with the…
Cartel Corner #46: Hey Sean Penn, Stop Glorifying Drugs and Drug Lords!
Sean Penn Perpetuates Narco-Worship in a Blood-Stained Country The recently published interview between Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Sean Penn, while being presented as heroic, is in fact just perpetuating Mexico’s sickly worship of drugs, violence and mass murder. Penn, a Hollywood artist and activist wrote an article for Rolling Stone where…
Cartel Corner #45: How the Sinaloa Cartel Dominates The Cocaine Trade
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, the powerful leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, was recaptured on January 8 in a town not far from where he was born in Sinaloa state. While its leader appears to be out of commission yet again, the Sinaloa cartel is still arguably the largest drug-trafficking organization in the world, and the deep ties to…