- El Nacional did a special over the weekend on kidnapping, charting how this crime has increased in Venezuela more than 430 percent since 1999. Venezuela has now far overtaken Colombia, once the kidnap capital of the world, in registered abductions. The growth in kidnapping has outstripped even that of homicides as Caracas becomes one of the most dangerous cities in the world.
- El Nuevo Heraldo looks at the infiltration of the Mexican drug cartels into El Salvador. Guatemala has already fallen victim to infiltration by the Zetas in the north of the country. The article speaks of the Gulf Cartel using El Salvador as a staging post for cocaine shipments headed up to the U.S. InSight has also tracked presence in Costa Rica and believes Belize to be at risk as well.
- The AP reported on the new Ciudad Juarez public safety secretary, Julian Leyzaola, receiving threats on his second day in the job. They were delivered via the tortured body of a man, still alive, found wrapped in a blanket, with the message: "this is your first gift" signed "the Sinaloa Cartel."
- The Colombian weekly Semana published extracts from declarations from Juan Carlos Sierra, alias ‘El Tuso,’ a member of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia - AUC), extradited to the U.S. in 2008. It details some of the incestuous relationships between politicians, paramilitaries and the Medellin underworld, shedding light on the current war in this city between rival factions of the Oficina de Envigado.
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