Dudley Althaus

Even The 99 Percent Get Kidnapped In Mexico

With ransoms set as low as $250, now more lower-class Mexicans can ‘afford’ an abduction. Although, sometimes they’re killed anyway.

Dudley Althaus
By Dudley Althaus
Maria Gonzalez

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 guerrillas and gangland bosses. That puts Mexico, along with Colombia and

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Deep Caverns And Old Mine Shafts Are Giving Mexico City A Sinking Feeling

A cavern 45 feet deep carved beneath the Mexican capital’s busy streets highlights a long-lurking threat.

Dudley Althaus
By Dudley Althaus

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

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Even Caged, Mexican Kingpin El Chapo Can Bite

“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?”

Dudley Althaus
By Dudley Althaus
Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman

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 imprison Guzman in Mexico or approve the extradition requests being drawn up

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Mexico’s ‘Drug War’ Is Not About Drugs

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.

Dudley Althaus
By Dudley Althaus
Federal police stand guard in front of a bank branch in Apatzingan in Michoacan state, Mexico, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014. Federal police control security in the city and both armed and unarmed member of the "self-defense" movement were working with them to identify Knights Templar drug cartel hideouts. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

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

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While Mexico Is Riled By Texas Execution, Many Actually Support The Death Penalty

John Kerry warned Texas officials that executing Tamayo would strain relations with the southern neighbor.

Dudley Althaus
By Dudley Althaus
Edelmira Arias is comforted while weeping at the home of the parents of Texas death-row inmate Edgar Tamayo, her cousin, in Miacatlan, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals Wednesday night for Mexican national Edgar Tamayo, clearing the way for the Texas death row inmate to be executed for the slaying of a Houston police officer 20 years ago. Secretary of State John Kerry previously asked Texas to delay Tamayo's punishment, saying it "could impact the way American citizens are treated in other countries." The State Department repeated that stance Wednesday. (AP Photo/Tony Rivera)

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

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Mexico’s Gang-Torn Hot Country Is About To Boil Over

Troops clashed with armed vigilante groups intent on taking on a dangerous meth cartel in Mexico’s western Michoacan state.

Dudley Althaus
By Dudley Althaus

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.

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Mexico Wants To Slim Down. Does Mayor Bloomberg Have The Answer?

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.

Dudley Althaus
By Dudley Althaus

  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 City's outgoing fat-fighting mayor — in an effort to combat a

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