Mexico

Is Rick Perry a joker?

Rick Perry over the weekend said that it may become necessary to send US troops into Mexico (with their approval). It has created some concern in America not least because the American public after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have grown weary of foreign military operations but also because there is a generalised perception that bigger and higher walls should be created to solve the problem.

Vicente Fox says that the drugs war is failing his country

The former president of Mexico, Vicente Fox, is the latest high-profile figure to call for an end to the ‘war on drugs’, which he now considers to be a brutally misguided and expensive failure.

Fox (who was himself a strong supporter of the aggressive US-led campaign against drugs when he was in power from 2002 to 2006) last month publicly advocated the legalization of drugs as a way to limit the gang violence that has devastated many parts of Mexico.

Importance of ThinkingDrugs

I remember countless times when social media websites pointed out very amateur surveys - determining what show character you resemble or what your spirit animal is. Most are poorly designed. They carry 4 or 5 profiles, and it seems like everyone falls under the same 2 or 3. ThinkingDrugs is not that sort of survey. It is much more comprehensive and should be of great use to many. The survey has the user find their stance on drug policy, but also has users address many controversial situations to discover their stance.

US Arming Mexican Cartels

Imagine you own a gun store in Texas. Imagine further that one quiet morning, a young woman enters your shop. She seems pleasant, and during the course of your friendly chat she talks of picking her children up later on from school. She then places an order for 20 AK-47s.

Los Zetas boss funds the Catholic Church

The leader of Los Zetas, Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano has funded the Our Lady of the Lakes Chapel near Pachuca, a plaque at recognizes his generosity. The newspaper La Razon reported the plaque at the chapel reads: "John Paul II Catechesis Evangelization Center, donated by Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano."

The impact on Mexican women

Journalists in Mexico are resorting to increasingly extreme methods to avoid torture, kidnap and murder for reporting on drug crime and cartel warfare. Reporters at Mexico’s largest newspaper chain, Grupo Reforma, have taken to wearing bullet proof vests, while many are moving to high rise apartment blocks to reduce the risk of being kidnapped. Reporters are also posing as street vendors to maintain life-preserving anonymity when reporting at the scene of an incident and using social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to publish their stories.

A video shows the daily activities of a group of cartel hitmen

The video above shows the lawless state to which the trafficking of illegal drugs has reduced Mexico. The scenes look like a ‘home video’ made by cartel gunmen working for the Sinaloa cartel. The video starts in what appears to be a ‘safe house’ where the young men are joking around and making fun of two of their colleagues as they are taking a nap on a bed together. At first these individuals appear ordinary young men and there are no real hints to their sinister lifestyles.

Mexican cartels expand to Australia

According to Australian news sources, one of the largest Mexican drugs syndicates, the Sinaloa cartel has infiltrated Australia. The surge in cocaine use throughout Australia has been attributed to the large scale, highly-sophisticated importations by the Sinaloa cartel, headed by the infamous Joaquin “el chapo” Guzman.

Hillary Clinton speaks of ‘insurgency’ in Mexico

American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has spoken of the present drug wars in Mexico as representing an escalation into ‘insurgency’, and drawn parallels between it and the Colombian conflict of two decades ago. That resulted in the deployment of the notorious ‘Plan Colombia’, with US troops stationed in the country and working in tandem with the Colombian armed forces.

Narco Polo: The changing fashion of drug traffickers

When Mexican Police presented Edgar Valdez Villareal aka “La Barbie” to the media they did not assume that they would also be starting an impromptu advertising campaign for the all-American brand Ralph Lauren.

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