Mexico Drug War The media debut a week ago, in the state of Veracruz, by a group calling themselves the Mata Zetas, the Zeta Killers, raised discussion in the press of whether or not they were a "paramilitary" group or just another cartel spinoff. In one article, the Mexican government denied the existence of paramilitary groups in the country, but another article discusses the reality of such groups, which are tied to political and economic powers in various parts of Mexico. In Acapulco, the government announced an agreement to protect teachers who have been on strike because...
(Note as of October 6: This post has been updated to reflect a U.S. estimate of 34,500 hectares of coca cultivation in 2010 in Bolivia, revealed in President Obama's September 15 determination (PDF) "decertifying" Bolivia for failure to cooperate in counter-drug efforts. Production in Bolivia remains flat, or slightly down, according to both the U.S. and UN estimates.)
With the mid-September release of its report...
Mexico Drug War: Three articles focus on the efforts of Mexican citizens to use social media to inform one another about the drug war in their communities and the violent response by the Zetas cartel in order to stop this flow of information. Three articles talk about the Mexican police and army. The first reports the poor pay police continue to receive, while the second analyzes how simply raising salaries without instituting other major reforms will not end police corruption and collusion with the drug cartels. The third is about the army's request for a huge increase in...
The State Department on September 15, 2011, certified that Colombia had met the human rights conditions attached to U.S. assistance. No surprise there—the State Department always certifies Colombia meets the conditions, no matter what is happening on the ground. To be fair, this time, with the year-old Santos Administration, there’s somewhat more reason to certify than during countless rounds of certification during the Uribe Administration. The certification document cites the Santos...
The Colombian newsmagazine Semana writes about an upcoming report from the Ideas for Peace Foundation, a security-focused think-tank founded by members of the country’s business community. [Update: that report (...
Mexico Drug War news focused on threats to users of social media seeking to inform their neighbors or the government and the release of two "twitterers" in Veracruz charged with "terrorism." A massacre in Veracruz pointed to a new battle between cartels for control of that port. President Calderon was speaking in many venues in New York City about the need for the U.S. to consider "market alternatives" to drug prohibition. And the Mexican attorney general was talking about being kept in the dark about the "Fast and Furious" gun walking scandal.
Mexico Movement...