With ransoms set as low as $250, now more lower-class Mexicans can ‘afford’ an abduction. Although, sometimes they’re killed anyway.
CUERNAVACA, Mexico — Once the plutocrats' plague, kidnapping for ransom in Mexico has gone decidedly mass market. Shopkeepers and family physicians, carpenters and taxi drivers: All have been targeted in recent years as minions of young criminals enter a trade long run by
A cavern 45 feet deep carved beneath the Mexican capital’s busy streets highlights a long-lurking threat.
MEXICO CITY — With all the crime, pollution and traffic, life has been shaky on the teeming streets clinging to Mexico City’s hilly southwest side. This week there's a reminder just how precarious things can be. City officials have discovered a yawning cavern just below the surface of a vital intersection, clawed out by gushing water from a
“They’ve grabbed a tiger by the tail,” says US political scientist John Bailey, an expert on Mexican politics and organized crime. “Now what are they going to do with it?”
MEXICO CITY — With cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman back behind bars, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto must decide what to do with his prize, as communities and gunmen the mega-gangster controlled brace for a bloody backlash. Will Peña Nieto opt to judge and
Frustrated citizens long have imposed their own justice when the official process fails. Lynchings of accused thieves, rapists and murderers occur still far too regularly in rural community and urban neighborhoods alike.
TIERRA COLORADA, Mexico — Major events these days in Mexico's seven-year-long criminal conflict have precious little to do with a war on drugs. In the past year, the capture of town after town by volunteer police and citizen militias in the Pacific coast states of Michoacan and Guerrero has roiled and embarrassed President Enrique Pena Nieto's
John Kerry warned Texas officials that executing Tamayo would strain relations with the southern neighbor.
MEXICO CITY — Edgar Tamayo's execution in Texas on Wednesday is roiling US-Mexico relations and spurring public debate about the death penalty in both countries. A court sentenced Tamayo to death for the killing of a police officer 20 years ago. Recently, in efforts to stop the execution, Mexican officials and anti-death penalty advocates
Troops clashed with armed vigilante groups intent on taking on a dangerous meth cartel in Mexico’s western Michoacan state.
MEXICO CITY — Things are shifting quickly and bloodily in Mexico’s western Michoacan state, as troops fight to disarm vigilante gangs intent on combating a dangerous drug cartel. A clash between soldiers and militiamen in one town Monday night ended with multiple deaths — reports vary on how many, but the government has confirmed two fatalities.
Latin America’s heavyweight champ is poised to add a 5 percent tax on junk food and soft drinks, and it has New York City’s mayor to thank — or to blame.
MEXICO CITY — Mexico's many junk food mavens will soon be plunking down more pesos to pack on the pounds. The lower house of congress has approved a 5 percent tax on fatty foods and soft drinks — a levy widely known here as the “Bloomberg tax,” referring to New York
