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…
Category: The Drug War & The Border
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…
Cartel Corner #59: El Chapo Hates Mexican Prison So Much He Wants to Be Extradited
Or is it ole’ Sneaky El Chapo just wants the chance for a paid group of serious pipe hitters to break him out during the transfer? Hmmmm, Enquiring Minds want to know.-SF At the same time, the drug lord’s wife has warned the Mexican authorities that they will live to regret her husband’s extradition because of…
Cartel Corner #58: The Next Generation of Narco’s
There was a time, the story goes, when if a local collided with a drug trafficker’s car on the streets of Culiacán — a bastion of the infamous Sinaloa cartel — the narco was likely to hop out to check that everything was ok. “They’d say: ‘If you have any problems call this doctor and…
Cartel Corner #57: 6 Common Misconceptions about the MS-13 Street Gang
In response to a recent article on the MS13 published by Foreign Policy and reprinted at InSight Crime, gang expert Carlos Garcia challenges six commonly held misconceptions about the street gang based in several parts of Central America, Mexico, and the United States. There is an abundance of journalists, communicators and even academics who accuse…