
Mexican Mayor Murdered Less Than One Day After Taking Office
In an act that has become all too common, individuals allegedly affiliated with organized crime have murdered the mayor of a small town in Mexico less than a day since she took office.

In an act that has become all too common, individuals allegedly affiliated with organized crime have murdered the mayor of a small town in Mexico less than a day since she took office.

As marijuana legalization in states like Colorado and Washington continues, marijuana farmers in Mexico are starting to see a steep decline in the profits their crops once fetched. Some growers report they’re seeing a decline in income as high as 70 percent, and they blame the popularity of higher quality legal marijuana in the U.S.

Mexican officials notified US Customs and Border Protection on December 30 that a four-foot section of a cross-border drug tunnel collapsed near the Nogales, Arizona port of entry. The tunnel was discovered in mid-November and efforts had not yet begun to fill the tunnel with concrete.

As brutal drug violence in the Mexican states of Michoacán and Guerrero continues, a Mexican prosecutor is claiming that vigilante groups supposedly battling drug cartels alongside the government have been extensively infiltrated by criminals.

As allegations of human rights abuses reportedly committed by police and military forces have persisted in Mexico, the U.S. has started to withhold aid payments. For many years, the U.S. has been providing security aid to Mexico, much of it through the Mérida Initiative as a way to counter the efforts of violent drug cartels.

Recent drug seizures and indictments indicate that Miami is back on the map as a trafficking hub for cocaine passing through Caribbean waters. After the fall of the Cali and Medellín drug cartels in Colombia, both the Florida Straits and the streets of south Florida quieted down dramatically.

A major gunfight occurred on December 26 between elements of the Mexican navy and drug traffickers in Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s hometown of Badiraguato, Sinaloa state. Some reports indicate military aircraft sustained minor damage, but two cartel attackers were killed and firearms, ammunition, and four and a half tons of marijuana were seized.

It’s no secret that Mexico’s largest drug cartel has a strong partnership with Colombia’s largest narcoterrorist group. However, recent statements made by a former Colombian president are shedding light on the multibillion dollar value of that relationship.

The drug trafficking ties between Colombia and Mexico go back decades, to when Colombian cartels started supplying Mexican drug runners with cocaine in the late 1970s. Those ties have since strengthened, and the recent discovery of a money laundering network between the two countries’ more powerful cartels is evidence of this.

Two alleged gun-runners were arrested in Spain on charges of buying military-grade weapons for drug cartels in Mexico. The controversy over how high-powered weapons get into the hands of Mexican drug cartels has been raging for years. US suppliers are often in the cross-hairs, so the recent arrest of individuals buying military-grade weapons for the cartels in Spain put a twist on perceptions of weapons trafficking to Mexico.

The Mexican government claims it has registered significant declines in kidnapping rates for 2015. Many drug war observers and Mexican citizens are very skeptical about the truth behind these government figures.

A blog about Mexican drug cartels reported on December 7 about a leaked encrypted email supposedly sent by notorious Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán to prominent Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. In the email, Guzmán allegedly threatens to retaliate against ISIS for destroying drug shipments and interfering in cartel business. Despite numerous mainstream media outlets reporting this “story” on December 10, the sole unverified source for this information is an unidentified Mexican blogger.

Many Americans are familiar with the term “blood diamond” or “conflict diamond,” which defines a diamond mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, an invading army’s war efforts, or a warlord’s activity—most commonly in Africa. Less commonly known; however, is “conflict gold.” Violent Mexican drug cartels are now fighting over revenues being paid to poor communities by corporations mining gold in areas of Mexico they have turned into war zones.

Mexican authorities announced on December 4 they have detained the brother of the Cartel de Jalisco’s notorious leader. Formally known as the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), the drug cartel is one of the fastest growing—and most violent—criminal organizations in Mexico.

Georgia authorities busted a drug ring and tied the group to Mexican drug cartels.

Investigators in Costa Rica are working feverishly to find out why the children of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán were in their country as recently as last year.

An Ohio county sheriff recently announced his agency had made one of the largest heroin seizures ever in the Miami Valley – drugs that were sourced to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. Hundreds of thousands of dollars and several firearms were also seized. The sheriff is now warning the cartel to stay out of his territory.

After falling behind Peru as the world’s largest cocaine producer, Colombia has regained the top spot. The South American country now grows more illegal coca than Peru and third-place Bolivia combined, and most of that cocaine is headed to the U.S. through Mexico.

Sheriff’s deputies from Nacogdoches county, Texas, made a traffic stop and found over $1 million in cash that they determined belonged to a Mexican drug cartel. The incident occurred nearly 500 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.

Despite Mexico City’s enormous population and opportunities for criminal organizations, it has remained a relative neutral ground for drug cartels. But that image was shattered when drivers discovered a corpse hanging from a Mexico City bridge—a telltale sign that the capital’s peace may be about to shatter.

On November 4, Mexico’s Supreme Court made a landmark—and highly controversial—decision, declaring that individuals should have the right to grow and distribute marijuana for their personal use. The ruling applies only to a single cannabis club that filed the suit, but may have initiated a domino effect that will pave the way for eventual marijuana legalization.

It has long been known that Colombian terrorists produce roughly half of the cocaine that enters Mexico en route to the US. Panamanian authorities have recently revealed that the Sinaloa Cartel has had a direct presence in Panama for years—including most-wanted kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán himself.

When the Mexican government announced the deregulation of its energy sector, many in the industry anticipated a rush to exploit Mexico’s rich hydrocarbon and gas deposits. People living in the Mexican energy boomtown in the Juárez Valley southeast of Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, Texas, allege that land speculators preparing for the start of oil and gas production have spurred a land grab that has forced what some claim is an exodus of local residents.

A prominent blog from Spain about citizen journalism has touted the efforts of Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project as a “successful formula” for demonstrating how the collaboration between professional and citizen journalists can bring down violent drug cartels. Journalist and director of Spain’s Periodismo Ciudadano website Paula Gonzalo writes that Breitbart Texas is acting as a bridge across the border so Mexican citizen journalists can tell these vivid cartel stories.

Mexico’s National Institute for Transparency, Access to Information and Protection of Personal Data (INAI) said on October 11 that the Defense Secretariat must find and release any communications with the U.S. government relating to the disappearance last year of 43 education students in southern Mexico.