Mexico

Disappearances Rise on Mexico’s ‘Highway of Death’

MEXICO CITY—As many as 50 people are missing after setting out on three-hour car trips this year between Mexico’s industrial hub of Monterrey and the border city of Nuevo Laredo on a well-traveled stretch of road local media have dubbed “the highway of death.”

Relatives say family members simply vanished. The disappearances, and last week’s shooting of 15 apparently innocent bystanders in Reynosa, suggest Mexico is returning to the dark days of the 2006-2012 drug war when cartel gunmen often targeted the general public as well as one another.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexican drug cartels, Mexico, Mexico - Failed State, WTF?

Mexico border city rocked as weekend of gang violence leaves 14 dead

Fear has invaded the Mexican border city of Reynosa after gunmen in vehicles killed 14 people, including taxis drivers, workers and a nursing student, and security forces responded with operations that left four suspects dead.

This city across the border from McAllen, Texas, is a key trafficking point, and has long been accustomed to cartel violence. But the 14 victims in Saturday’s attacks appeared to be what the Tamaulipas governor, Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca, called “innocent citizens”.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexican drug cartels, Mexico, Mexico - Failed State

Over 85 political candidates have been murdered during Mexico’s brutal election campaign

Over 85 political candidates have been murdered as Mexico gears up to one of its biggest elections ever. Conditions are particularly dangerous for those running for mayor.

“Today is a special day,” said Alma Barragan with excitement in a video she shared with her supporters. The video extended an invitation to a campaign event in the city of Moroleon in central Mexico on Tuesday. It was to be the 61-year-old mayoral candidate’s last video. She was shot dead the same day, in broad daylight.

Legislative, gubernatorial and local elections are all taking place on June 6 in one of the biggest elections Mexico has witnessed. According to the consulting firm Etellekt, Barragan was the 88th candidate to have been murdered this electoral season.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexican drug cartels, Mexico, Mexico - Failed State, WTF?

DEA Official: Mexican Cartels Smuggling Fentanyl Across Border With Impunity

Mexican cartels are trafficking deadly narcotics into the United States with impunity, a top Drug Enforcement Administration official said on Monday.

Cooperation between U.S. and Mexican authorities to target cartels has deteriorated amid a surge of illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, Matthew Donahue, the DEA deputy chief of operations, told NPR. Donahue said Mexican law enforcement have cut off ties with the DEA, fearing punishment from the Mexican government if they cooperate with the U.S. agency—a breakdown that has helped cartels smuggle fentanyl and methamphetamines into the United States.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexican drug cartels, Mexico, Mexico - Failed State, USA

Mexico City metro overpass collapse kills 23

A metro overpass has collapsed in Mexico City as a train was travelling over it, killing at least 23 people, including children, the mayor said.

Two train carriages were seen hanging from the structure, above a busy road. At least 65 people were injured, and seven are in a serious condition.

One person trapped in a car underneath the wreckage was pulled out alive.

This is the deadliest incident in decades in the city’s metro system, one of the busiest in the world.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexico

Former US Ambassador To Mexico: Cartels Control Up To 40 Percent Of Mexican Territory

Christopher Landau, U.S. ambassador to Mexico during the Trump administration, said during a roundtable event with former diplomats last week that drug cartels control between 35 and 40 percent of Mexican territory.

“I think there is no doubt that they play a broad role in the governance of Mexico,” Landau said.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexican drug cartels, Mexico, Mexico - Failed State

How did a truck carrying 273 dead bodies end up stranded on the outskirts of Guadalajara?

The death truck: how a solution to Mexico’s morgue crisis created a new horror

On the southern outskirts of Guadalajara, early in the morning of 15 September 2018, a large container, the type normally attached to a lorry, sank into the soupy ground beside a rutted country road. The refrigerated container could store up to 18 tonnes of material, cooled to -40C. Across its white exterior, a cartoon polar bear in a blue work shirt smiled and gave a thumbs up.

A container like this was a common enough sight in the neighbourhood of Tlajomulco de Zúñiga. What attracted attention was the smell. Sitting there, slumped between cornfields on one side and dilapidated concrete houses on the other, it gave off a thick, cloying odour. Some said it reeked of rotting cabbage and fish, others mentioned putrid meat. But they all agreed: the container exuded death.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexico

Mexico ambush: 13 state police killed in attack on convoy

Thirteen Mexican police officers and investigators have been killed in an ambush as they travelled through a rural region – marking the latest attack on law enforcement by brazen criminal groups.

Eight state police officers and five members of the state’s investigative police force died in the ambush in the municipality of Coatepec Harinas, 125km (78 miles) south-west of Mexico City in Mexico state on Thursday afternoon, according to officials.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inMexican drug cartels, Mexico, Mexico - Failed State

Biden Nominee Who Called For Decriminalizing All Drugs Owns Millions In Company Accused Of ‘Fueling Mexican Cartels’ Heroin Production’

Associate attorney general nominee Vanita Gupta, who has called for the decriminalization of all drugs in the past, reportedly owns tens of millions of dollars of stock in a company that has been accused of “fueling” Mexican drug cartels’ heroin production.

h/t Marvin

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by Sarcasticat••0•Posted in"President Dementia AKA Joe Biden", Drugs, Mexico

How Amnesty Causes Human Misery, Endangers Public Health

Mexican police officers were arrested last week and charged in the killing of more than a dozen Guatemalan migrants on the way to the United States.

Their bodies were shot and burned near the U.S. border in a violence-riddled corridor frequently used by smugglers.

Such tragedies are not uncommon. Mexican police particularly at the state and local level have often been accused of exploiting and killing migrants. Criminal organizations routinely prey on vulnerable people who are often smuggled through violent and cartel-controlled areas.

The left often paints amnesty as a humanitarian act, but clearly, the facts paint a darker reality. Promises of mass legalization and weakened enforcement lead to these tragedies.

But pushing amnesty and permitting catch-and-release in the middle of a pandemic will lead to far greater human misery with the spread of COVID-19.

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by Sarcasticat••0•Posted in"China eats weird animals disease", Amnesty, Immigration, Mexico, USA

Mexico’s ruling party introduces bill to fine Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for censorship

Morena, the political party of Mexican president López Obrador, submitted a bill on February 8th calling for fines of up to $4.4 million USD against social media companies for violating users’ right to free speech. The law would apply only to platforms with over one million users in Mexico, which covers Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

As a US citizen, this makes me ashamed.

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by Sarcasticat••0•Posted inBig Tech, Censorship, Censorship on Social Media, Freedom of speech, Mexico