Mexico is home to some of the hemisphere’s largest, most sophisticated and violent organized criminal groups. These organizations have drawn from Mexico’s long history of smuggling and its close proximity to the United States, the world’s largest economy, to grow into a regional threat.
The shuttering of a state prison in Mexico is an unconventional response by officials trying to combat poor living conditions for inmates but this will do little to address fundamental…
After the discovery of several elaborate tunnels used to siphon fuel to two hidden warehouses, it's clear that Mexico's gas theft rings have found success by going underground.
Seizures of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl by customs agents in the United States have skyrocketed nationwide, underscoring potential shifts in drug markets amid the country’s ongoing opioid crisis.
Mexico is home to some of the hemisphere’s largest, most sophisticated and violent organized criminal groups. These organizations have drawn from Mexico’s long history of smuggling and its close proximity to the United States, the world’s largest economy, to grow into a regional threat. Their networks stretch from Argentina to Canada and even into Europe. They traffic in illegal drugs, contraband, arms and humans, and launder their proceeds through regional moneychangers, banks and local economic projects. Their armament, training and tactics have become increasingly sophisticated as the Mexican government has ramped up efforts to combat them.
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Mexico's criminal landscape has morphed in recent years from one dominated by a handful of powerful cartels into a fragmented web of nearly 200 criminal groups defined by fragile and fast-changing alliances. While the Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco Cartel New Generation (CJNG) still dominate the scene, other upstart, hyperviolent groups have carved out a place for themselves through oil theft and other predatory crimes like extortion and kidnapping.
Tens of thousands of trucks on Mexico’s highways are being robbed of cargo every year, with criminal gangs becoming more daring, sophisticated and violent when carrying out hijackings.
Criminal groups in one of Mexico's most popular tourist regions have found yet another sector to extort and terrorize: hotel builders.
Following the arrest of a former Mexican mayor in Guatemala, US prosecutors unveiled an indictment against him and criminal rivals allegedly attacked the town he once ruled.
The seizure in Mexico of COVID-19 vaccine smuggled aboard a private plane linked to a Honduran textile magnate marks the first instance of alleged transnational vaccine smuggling in Latin America…
A bloody ambush on a police unit in the state of Mexico, in which thirteen officials were shot dead, is exposing the Mexican government’s failure to control escalating violence outside…
A recent report from the US-Mexico border revealed that human smuggling organizations have begun giving special bracelets to undocumented migrants, a practice that seems to illustrate the different tiers that…
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