Ioan GrilloNovember 27, 2011 22:44

Mexican marines seize 900 guns

Weapons found on container from Turkish ship

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Illegal guns are behind most of the violent deaths in Mexico (Spencer Platt/AFP/Getty Images)

Seizures of large piles of guns have become worryingly common in Mexico. But the Sunday bust in Michoacan state still made a news splash for the sheer size of the arsenal. Mexican marines broke open a ship container and uncovered a whopping total of 900 firearms.

Ioan GrilloNovember 20, 2011 16:17

No reduction in Mexico kidnappings

Government crackdown isn’t stopping abductions

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A former presidential candidate became a high profile kidnap victim (Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images)

Mexico’s security forces have been unable to reduce the number of kidnappings for ransom across the country despite many arrests and deaths of gangsters, according to new government figures.

Between October 2010 and September 2011, there were 1,016 kidnappings for ransom, a report by the National Public Security System shows.

That figure is almost unchanged compared to the previous year when there were 1,017 such abductions reported.

Ioan GrilloNovember 19, 2011 15:53

Mexico has 7 million lost youth

Survey exposes stunning number of “neither nors”

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Lost youth become drug cartel recruits (DAVID MONROY/AFP/Getty Images)

Mexico has a stunning 7.8 million young people who neither work nor study, according to a new government study. The so called “ni nis” or “neither nors” are believed to be a major cause of instability in Mexico, with the unemployed youth providing an army of potential recruits for drug cartels.

Sarah ChildressNovember 16, 2011 13:24

Brazil's favelas fight is about to get ugly

Picking a fight with the drug cartels hasn't worked so well, for anyone. Just saying.

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This pool belonged to a drug lord named Peixe, or Fish, in the Rocinha slum. (LUIZA CASTRO/AFP/Getty Images)

The whomp-'em raid in the Rio favela of Rocinha on Sunday morning was pretty intense, even by police-action standards.

Helicopter gunships, tanks and 3,000 troops stormed into the slum. The goal was to run out the drug traffickers who rule the place.

When they got there, though, nobody was home.

Sarah ChildressNovember 14, 2011 13:11

Legalization debate: first pot, now coke?

Colombia's president suggested it's an option

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Why can't you buy this at your local pharmacy? (Guillermo Legaria/AFP/Getty Images)

this story is part of globalpost's continuing coverage of world business. for more visit our new business page.

Legalization used to be the rallying cry of stoners alone. Not anymore.

In Latin America, leaders seem to be reaching a new consensus about the drug war: it has failed, and it's time for a new solution.

Most say that foreign demand for cocaine and marijuana is the underlying problem.

Rio security forces take back major slum

Tom PhillipsNovember 14, 2011 07:20

RIO DE JANEIRO — More than 3,000 heavily-armed troops stormed Brazil’s largest slum on Sunday, expelling drug traffickers from the sprawling Rocinha shantytown that that for decades has been controlled by gang members.

Ioan GrilloNovember 10, 2011 18:45

NGOS to Washington: Cut military aid to Mexico

NGOs argue for less guns and more institution building

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Mexican troops fighting the war on the streets (Samuel Castillo/AFP/Getty Images)

A group of influential NGOs in Washington on Thursday called on the U.S. government to reduce military aid to Mexico and replace it with more help building Mexico’s institutions. Presenting a joint report, entitled “A Cautionary Tale,” the NGOs argued that the U.S. help to Mexico has been too centered in support of its army and marines. While the soldiers have been shooting down drug cartel capos and hit men across the country, they have also been accused of widespread human rights abuses, including torture, murder and forced disappearances.

Ioan GrilloNovember 9, 2011 15:20

Gangsters decapitate Mexican blogger

The fourth blogger is killed in Nuevo Laredo

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Two bloggers hanged from a bridge in Nuevo Laredo in September (Raul Llamas/AFP/Getty Images)

Mexican tweeters and bloggers were shaken anew on Wednesday when a decapitated body appeared by a statue next to a message that the victim was killed because of what he wrote on the Internet. Police found the corpse in Nuevo Laredo, a city on the border with Texas where the ultra violent Zetas cartel fight rivals over the lucrative drug trade.

Colombian FARC rebels vow to keep fighting despite top leader's death (VIDEO)

Freya PetersenNovember 6, 2011 17:53

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia — or FARC — has vowed to continue its struggle despite the death of the group's supreme commander, Alfonso Cano.

176 Honduran police arrested over corruption charges

Kyle KimNovember 3, 2011 23:33

A total of 176 Honduran police officers in the same unit have been arrested in an attempt to clear out corrupt law-enforcement, government officials said Thursday.