Dudley Althaus

Virtual Kidnappings In Mexico: Real Threats But No Abduction?

Spanish band reports ransom death threats were made to their relatives in Spain, but this tactic by the country’s criminal gangs has been common for years.

Dudley Althaus
By Dudley Althaus

MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Spain is urging its citizens to take extra precautions when visiting Mexico following the “virtual” kidnappings of Spaniards traveling here, including indie music band Delorean. Virtual kidnapping? It’s exactly that — a case of ransom being demanded when no one has actually been abducted. "The problem of insecurity that

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What Do Mexicans Think About The Border Fence?

Mexican officials are piping up about U.S. Congress’ immigration reform plan because, as they see it, border fences don’t work.

Dudley Althaus
By Dudley Althaus

MEXICO CITY — The U.S. Senate's proposal to dramatically beef up border enforcement has forced Mexican officials to break cover and issue a loud complaint that may prove counter productive. Aiming to win House approval of a sweeping immigration reform, a Senate committee last week voted to earmark some $46 billion to double the size of the U.S.

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Ecuador Oil Spill Threatens Brazil And Peru

The 11,000-barrel spill is no Deepwater Horizon-level disaster, but Peru and Brazil are on alert as crude oil flows into the Amazon.

Dudley Althaus
By Dudley Althaus

MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Brazilian officials have put riverbank communities on alert as oil spilled from a broken pipeline upstream in Ecuador flows toward the country's Amazon Basin. A May 31 landslide ruptured the pipeline in the Andean foothills near the Reventador Volcano, dumping some 11,000 barrels worth — 420,000 gallons — of crude oil into

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Mexico Drug War, Rebooted

It’s the general’s hour again in Mexico as the new president deploys troops in Michoacan, where gangsters are facing off against vigilante militias.

Dudley Althaus
By Dudley Althaus

MEXICO CITY, Mexico — President Enrique Peña Nieto says he wants to soften Mexico's bloody, military-led offensive against its criminal lords with a brainier, more preventive strategy. Well, wish him luck with that. Peña Nieto this week had to dispatch troops to the so-called hot country of western Michoacan to quell confrontations between

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How Colorado And Washington Could End Mexico’s Drug War

Might Americans’ growing ability to get stoned without fear of arrest end Mexico’s bloody gangster wars? The legalization of recreational marijuana approved by voters Tuesday in Washington and Colorado could sap power from vicious smuggling gangs, and undermine the Mexican government’s rationale for pressing on with thedrug war, some analysts say. The impact of the […]

Dudley Althaus
By Dudley Althaus
This Sept. 18, 2012 file photos shows a caregiver picking out a marijuana bud for a patient at a marijuana dispensary in Denver. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File)

Might Americans' growing ability to get stoned without fear of arrest end Mexico's bloody gangster wars? The legalization of recreational marijuana approved by voters Tuesday in Washington and Colorado could sap power from vicious smuggling gangs, and undermine the Mexican government's rationale for pressing on with thedrug war, some analysts

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