President's Efforts Stalled By Corruption MEXICO CITY The drug traffickers' wives clicked through the halls of Congress in high-heeled boots, glowering behind designer sunglasses. For several days, they had been barred from La Palma federal penitentiary, and they were upset that their usual privileges -- including conjugal visits -- had been suspended. The visits were halted when the government sent hundreds of army troops, backed by tanks and helicopters, to take control of La Palma on Jan. 14, after federal officials learned that drug traffickers were running criminal empires from their cells in the maximum-security prison and ordering executions both inside and outside its walls. [continues 563 words]
Lenient Penal Policies, Corruption Allow Cartel Leaders to Thrive Behind Bars MEXICO CITY -- The drug traffickers' wives clicked through the halls of Congress in high-heeled boots, glowering behind designer sunglasses. For several days, they had been barred from entering La Palma federal penitentiary, and they were upset that their usual privileges -- including conjugal visits -- had been suspended. The visits were halted when the government sent hundreds of army troops, backed by tanks and helicopters, to take control of La Palma on Jan. 14, after federal officials learned that drug traffickers were running criminal empires from their cells in the maximum-security prison and ordering executions both inside and outside its walls. [continues 1110 words]
Arrest Is Latest Blow Against Traffickers by President Fox MEXICO CITY, March 14 -- Mexican soldiers today arrested reputed drug lord Osiel Cardenas Guillen after a shoot-out in the border city of Matamoros. U.S. and Mexican officials said it was the most significant drug bust since last year's arrest of alleged kingpin Benjamin Arellano Felix. Cardenas was captured during a morning raid in which heavily armed soldiers surrounded several homes in Matamoros, Defense Secretary Gerardo Vega Garcia said at a news conference. Vega said three soldiers were wounded, two of them critically, when Cardenas's associates opened fire with automatic weapons. They also tossed a hand grenade at the soldiers, according to media reports. [continues 369 words]
Military Raids Offices in 11 States; 200 Employees Being Questioned MEXICO CITY, Jan. 20 -- For the second time in six years, the Mexican government has dismantled an elite federal anti-drug unit after discovering evidence that it had been corrupted by drug traffickers. Closure of the Federal Special Prosecutor's Office for Drug Crimes followed simultaneous military raids last week on the agency's offices in 11 states. The raids began in Tijuana, where seven agents are accused of offering to return nearly five tons of seized marijuana, and two captured drug dealers, to drug lords in exchange for $2 million. [continues 559 words]
Officials Have Seized More Than 93 Tons of the Drug Since Oct. 1 FALFURRIAS, Texas - As a steady stream of traffic pulled through the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint here, Agent Johnny did not look twice at the gravel trucks, the 18-wheelers or even the powder-blue Cadillac. But he knew instantly the green Dodge pickup was carrying more than firewood. Johnny, a dope-sniffing Belgian Malinois, started barking like mad, pawing and pressing his snout against the driver's door. [continues 376 words]
Border Patrol Snags Over A Ton A Day Falfurrias, Texas -- As a steady stream of traffic pulled through the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint here, Agent Johnny did not look twice at the gravel trucks, the 18- wheelers or even the powder-blue Cadillac. But he knew instantly that the green Dodge pickup was carrying more than firewood. Johnny, a dope-sniffing Belgian Malinois dog, started barking like mad, pawing and pressing his snout against the driver's door. When agents got into the truck and pulled out the seat, there it was: a half-pound or so of marijuana, bundled in plastic, in a cab doused with air freshener to hide the smell. [continues 658 words]
ALMOLOYA DE JUAREZ, Mexico -- Benjamin Arellano Felix, the man accused of running Mexico's most ruthless drug cartel, said the United States has already lost its war on drugs and that violent trafficking gangs will thrive as long as Americans keep buying marijuana, cocaine and heroin. "It would stop being a business if the United States didn't want drugs," Arellano said Tuesday during a rare interview in the La Palma maximum-security federal prison here, where Mexican authorities hope to keep him for life. [continues 163 words]
In Prison Interview, Alleged Kingpin Says Demand Fuels Trade ALMOLOYA DE JUAREZ, Mexico -- Benjamin Arellano Felix, the man accused of running Mexico's most ruthless drug cartel, said the United States has already lost its war on drugs and that violent trafficking gangs will thrive as long as Americans keep buying marijuana, cocaine and heroin. "It would stop being a business if the United States didn't want drugs," Arellano said Tuesday during a rare interview in the La Palma maximum security federal prison here, where Mexican authorities hope to keep him for the rest of his life. [continues 1561 words]
In Prison Interview, Alleged Kingpin Says Demand Fuels Trade ALMOLOYA DE JUAREZ, Mexico -- Benjamin Arellano Felix, the man accused of running Mexico's most ruthless drug cartel, said the United States has already lost its war on drugs and that violent trafficking gangs will thrive as long as Americans keep buying marijuana, cocaine and heroin. "It would stop being a business if the United States didn't want drugs," Arellano said Tuesday during a rare interview in the La Palma maximum security federal prison here, where Mexican authorities hope to keep him for the rest of his life. [continues 1557 words]
MEXICO CITY - Nearly two years after his historic election, President Vicente Fox is presiding over a paralyzed and bickering administration that has failed to deliver on a cascade of promises to make Mexico richer, safer, better educated and less corrupt. The charismatic Fox ended the 71-year rule of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, on July 2, 2000, with a promise to overhaul a corrupt government that had lost the people's faith. But as Fox has proved unable to advance his goals, the euphoria of his election has dissipated. In its place is increasing concern that history may remember Fox as the man who ended the PRI's reign but accomplished little as president. [continues 423 words]
MEXICO CITY, May 27 -- Authorities today announced the arrest of a major drug trafficker they said was responsible for moving at least a ton of cocaine a month into the United States. Mexican soldiers captured Jesus Albino Quintero Meraz, known as "Big Ears," early Sunday in the Caribbean port city of Veracruz. Quintero was arrested with six other men, including a federal police officer accused of providing protection to his operations since 1996. The arrest is the latest in a string of blows that Mexican authorities have dealt in recent months to this country's powerful drug cartels, including the arrest in March of Benjamin Arellano Felix, leader of the violent Tijuana cartel that bears his family name. [continues 225 words]
MEXICO CITY, March 9 - Heavily armed Mexican commandos detained one of the country's leading drug lords early today and authorities later confirmed the death of his brother, a notorious enforcer, in a major strike against a multibillion-dollar cartel that has tormented law enforcement efforts on both sides of the border. Benjamin Arellano Felix, 49, presumed leader and financier of the ruthless Tijuana drug cartel, was arrested at 1 a.m. in a house in an exclusive neighborhood in the central Mexican city of Puebla. Announcing the arrest this morning, Mexican officials also said they were virtually certain that Arellano Felix's brother, Ramon Arellano Felix, 37, was killed in a shootout with police last month. [continues 883 words]
Cops Blame Tijuana Drug Cartel Tierra Del Sol, San Diego County -- Down the dust-blown driveway, past a chain-link fence and the Keep Out sign, past the beefy Rottweiler and the tire swing, in a closet under the staircase in a little two-story bungalow, Mexico's most violent drug lords kept a secret at Johnson's pig farm. When U.S. drug agents broke into the closet last week, they found a large safe. They opened it and found nothing. Then they spotted the false floor. And when they pried it up, they found the entrance to a 1,200-foot tunnel - -- complete with electric lights, ventilation ducts and wooden walls -- that ended in a fireplace in a house just beyond the metal wall that separates the United States from Mexico. [continues 693 words]
TIERRA DEL SOL, Calif. - Down the dust-blown driveway, past a chain-link fence and the Keep Out sign, past the beefy Rottweiler and the tire swing, in a closet under the staircase in a little two-story bungalow, Mexico's most violent drug lords kept a secret at Johnson's pig farm. When U.S. drug agents broke into the closet on Wednesday, they found a large safe. They opened it and found nothing. Then they spotted the false floor. And when they pried it up, they found the entrance to a 1,200-foot tunnel - complete with electric lights, ventilation ducts and wooden walls - - that ended in a fireplace in a house just beyond the metal wall that separates the United States from Mexico. [continues 478 words]
Lucrative Drug-Smuggling Mechanism Discovered TIERRA DEL SOL, Calif. - Down the dust-blown driveway, past a chain-link fence and the Keep Out sign, past the beefy Rottweiler and the tire swing, in a closet under the staircase in a little two-story bungalow, Mexico's most violent drug lords kept a secret at Johnson's pig farm. WHEN U.S. DRUG AGENTS busted into the closet on Wednesday, they found a large safe. They opened it and found nothing. Then they spotted the false floor. And when they pried it up, they found the entrance to a 1,200-foot tunnel - complete with electric lights, ventilation ducts and wooden walls - that ended in a fireplace in a house just beyond the metal wall that separates the United States from Mexico. [continues 994 words]
Two recent killings mark a violent escalation in the nation's war against organized drug crime. MAZATLAN, Mexico - The three couples were on their way to a baseball game on a Sunday afternoon earlier this month. Jose Manuel de Alba and two other federal judges were looking forward to a break from their heavy workload. They stood chatting in front of de Alba's bungalow, waiting for his wife, when a red Chevrolet pulled up. Out stepped a man who leveled an AK-47 assault rifle and sprayed them with at least 40 bullets. [continues 762 words]
Once-Cozy Relationship With Criminals Ends MAZATLAN, Mexico - The three couples were on their way to a baseball game on a Sunday afternoon earlier this month. Jose Manuel de Alba and two other federal judges were looking forward to a break from their heavy workload. They stood chatting in front of de Alba's bungalow, waiting for his wife, when a red Chevrolet pulled up. Out stepped a man who leveled an AK47 assault rifle and sprayed them with at least 40 bullets. [continues 745 words]
War On Organized Crime Takes Deadly Turn Mazatlan, Mexico -- The three couples were on their way to a baseball game on a Sunday afternoon this month. Jose Manuel de Alba and two other federal judges were looking forward to a break from their heavy workload. They stood chatting in front of de Alba's bungalow, waiting for his wife, when a red Chevrolet pulled up. Out stepped a man who leveled an AK-47 assault rifle and sprayed them with at least 40 bullets. [continues 757 words]
Drug Lord Who Lived Like King in Prison Reportedly Bought Freedom MEXICO CITY - Pizza and women. Drives in the country whenever the mood strikes. Guards on the payroll. A decent wine list, whites properly chilled in contraband ice. What more could a murderous drug lord ask from his maximum security prison? But apparently that was not enough for Joaquin Guzman, a violent little brick of a man known as "El Chapo," who left it all behind last weekend. The reputed former head of the Sinaloa drug cartel reportedly paid millions in bribes to guards, and maybe the warden, and rode out of the maximum security Puente Grande prison hidden in a laundry truck. [continues 591 words]
MEXICO CITY, Jan. 24 -- Pizza and women. Drives in the country whenever the mood strikes. Guards on the payroll. A decent wine list, whites properly chilled in contraband ice. What more could a murderous drug lord ask from his maximum security prison? But apparently that was not enough for Joaquin Guzman, a violent little brick of a man known as "El Chapo," who left it all behind last weekend. The reputed former head of the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel reportedly paid millions in bribes to guards, and maybe the warden, and rode out of the maximum security Puente Grande prison hidden in a laundry truck. In his wake, Guzman, who had been incarcerated since 1993 on a 20-year sentence for drug trafficking, left a slew of nagging and embarrassing questions, mainly this: Is Mexico really so utterly and hopelessly corrupt that one of the country's most notorious convicts could live like a king in jail, then just walk away? [continues 523 words]
