Ioan Grillo and John DickieApril 11, 2011 05:53

IXTEPEC — Last year there were 20,000 kidnappings of migrants trying to make their way across Mexico to the United States.

On Location: Mexico City — Legalizing pot?

Ioan Grillo and John DickieJanuary 21, 2011 07:22

A growing chorus of Mexicans, weary of the drug-war's death toll, want to legalize the production and sale of marijuana.

In-Depth Series: Narconomics

News DeskDecember 27, 2011 14:31

It's a multi-billion dollar enterprise, but only the bad guys reap the profits. This is the business of Mexico's drug war.

Confronting crack in Costa Rica

Alex LeffDecember 27, 2011 07:00

SAN JOSE — Carballo is visibly disfigured. Thugs chopped a chunk off his left ear and gouged 19 teeth out of his mouth.

In Costa Rica, the Ticos get tough

Alex LeffDecember 27, 2011 07:00

SAN JOSE — After a decade of escalating violent crime, and amid an ongoing row with neighboring Nicaragua, are the “Ticos” — as the Costa Ricans call themselves, in a self-effacing habit — losing their peaceful way?

Fear and money laundering in Costa Rica

Alex LeffDecember 27, 2011 07:00

SAN JOSE — Law enforcement officials say laundering is par for the course in this country, which has fallen into the crosshairs of flush drug cartels seeking not just trafficking routes but places to stash illicit cash.

For Costa Rica, a “menace” like no other

Nick MiroffDecember 27, 2011 07:00

SAN JOSE — The fight against the cartels has dealt a major blow to Costa Rica. "I couldn't say that we are winning the battle," Chinchilla said.

Sarah ChildressDecember 16, 2011 13:02

Caciques, not cartels, kill in Mexico this time

Little-known local groups known as caciques charge protection money in schools

Enlarge

Forensics experts examine the makeshift grave in Guadalajara. (Hector Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images)

Three bodies were found buried in Guadalajara on Thursday.

And it's believed the cartels didn't do it. So who killed them?

Student organizations in Mexico, which are violent and organized, started up in the 1960s.

They still exist now, linked to local political bosses known as caciques, and the groups help influence political rivals or get into extortion rackets.

Sarah ChildressDecember 13, 2011 16:27

Another Zetas cartel leader captured...

...Another round of drug-war Whack-a-Mole begins.

Enlarge

Sometimes it can seem like the cartels are bulletproof. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Mexico's US-trained marines nabbed one of the founders of the Zetas cartel on Monday, a valiant effort, to be sure.

But also one that underscores how badly this drug war is going.

Raul Lucio Hernandez Lechuga, known as "El Lucky," was picked up in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, where the Zetas have been clashing with a proxy of their main foe, the Sinaloa cartel.

Sarah ChildressDecember 8, 2011 15:13

Gunmen kill ambulance driver in Mexico, 4 die

Another spate of violence for Ciudad Juarez amid this never-ending drug war

Enlarge

More murder comes to Ciudad Juarez. (JESUS ALCAZAR/AFP/Getty Images)

An ambulance driver was killed on Wednesday in Ciudad Juarez, a Mexico border city that saw a massive uptick in violence as cartels compete for territory.

Gunmen ambushed the ambulance by crashing into it.

They then shot the driver through the head, killed two patients and a woman who was riding with them.

Officials think that the driver was the target of the killing, but they have no motive.

Do they ever?