A flight attendant ditched her designer heels and fled the Los Angeles International Airport on Friday night, leaving behind two bags stuffed with 66 pounds of cocaine and many questions about her apparent role in a large-scale drug smuggling operation. The flight attendant, who has not been publicly identified, was still on the lam as…
Category: The Drug War & The Border
Cartel Corner #68 : “Narconomics”
How The Drug Cartels Operate Like Wal-Mart And McDonald’s When Tom Wainwright became the Mexico correspondent for The Economist in 2010, he found himself covering the country’s biggest businesses, including the tequila trade, the oil industry and the commerce of illegal drugs. “I found that one week I’d be writing about the car business, and…
Cartel Corner #67: Juarez Cartel Bankrolling Politicians Re-Election Through Shell Companies
What is really amazing to me is the number of people out there who think type of thing ONLY goes on in Mexico and Central and South America. The big difference in the U.S. is the “Cartels” are called Corporations. -SF An in-depth investigation has revealed that through the use of shell companies, members of…
Cartel Corner #66: Drug Cartels Are Taking over the Mexican Tortilla Biz
Samuel ran down the steep dirt track lined with blue and pink houses desperate to escape. The 20-year-old took long strides and ran from one side to the other in a zigzag. He begged for someone to open the door of a house so he could hide, but nobody did. That mid-morning, the poor and…
Cartel Corner #65: Cartel Firefight Near TX Border Kills 10
REYNOSA, Tamaulipas — The residents of this border city had a rude awakening as cartel gunmen and authorities clashed in a fierce gun battles for more than three hours that left at least 10 dead. Rumors among residents point to the capture of a commander within the Gulf Cartel. The violence began shortly after 5:17…
Cartel Corner #63: Peru Is Turning Into A Top Narco-State
Peru has long vied with Colombia as the world’s top producer of cocaine, but has only periodically produced high profile drug lords. Gerson Gálvez Calle — alias “Caracol” or Snail — is one of these. Caracol sprung to the nation’s attention late last year after news emerged that he was heading Peru’s largest and most violent…
Brush-Up On Your History: When Terrorist First Attacked the U.S.
A hundred years ago this month, the nation was blindsided by the first act of terrorism on U.S. soil—at the hands of Mexican troops commanded by the revolutionary Pancho Villa. It has been 100 years since the first act of terror on U.S. soil was committed by revolutionary Francisco “Pancho” Villa. On March 9, 1916…
Border Security Report: Mexican Meth on the Rise
A new report suggests Mexico‘s role in the production and trafficking of methamphetamine to the United States continues to grow, a reflection of how criminal groups throughout Latin America are diversifying their criminal portfolios to respond to market demands. According to a report (pdf) by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), an independent body tasked…
Cartel Corner #61: El Salvador’s Murder Rate Getting Worse
El Salvador has not experienced such a bloody start to the year since the small Central American country was submerged in a brutal civil war that ended a generation ago. The first two months of 2016 ended with 1,399 murders, more than double the number for the same period in 2015 when homicide rates had already…
Cartel Corner #60: Profile of The ‘Texis’ Cartel of El Salvador
Unlike some Central American gangs that have earned fame for their brutality and their liberal use of violence, the Cartel de Texis has developed a reputation for a more business-like approach to the drug trade. But as the report by Salvadoran news site El Faro about the group illustrates, while the gang isn’t known for leaving…