Connect to share and comment

Drug use spreads through Mexico's streets

June 19, 2009 14:51Updated May 30, 2010 12:58

Interview: A drug lord's lawyer

Todd BensmanJune 14, 2009 09:58Updated May 30, 2010 12:58
SAN ANTONIO — Lawyer Ernesto Gutierrez fled Matamoros, Mexico, to the U.S. last year after the much-feared Los Zetas enforcement wing of the Gulf Cartel kidnapped and tortured him in one of their many hidden death houses along the border. He's since applied for political asylum in the U.S., joining a growing number of drug war refugees from Mexico — police officers, journalists and public officials — seeking protection from cartels.

A bloody fortnight

June 11, 2009 08:45Updated June 11, 2009 08:45
Add Ioan Grillo to your circles
  Top News: A fire that burned through a Mexican day care center killing 44 children shocked people across Mexico and the world. The inferno swept through the nursery in Hermosillo, Sonora on Friday June 5, killing the infants with burns and intoxicating smoke. The death toll was already 38 by Saturday, but more would die in the coming days.   

Mexican cartels go global

Todd BensmanJune 7, 2009 10:41Updated May 30, 2010 12:57

Escape from Zacatecas

May 28, 2009 17:43Updated May 28, 2009 17:43
Add Ioan Grillo to your circles
 Top News: A prison escape of epic proportions grabbed the attention of Mexican media in the second half of May, dominating headlines for a week.

Mexico's liberal capital

May 27, 2009 22:36Updated May 30, 2010 12:56
MEXICO CITY — It was no spectacular wedding with carriages and elegant dresses. The couple in their late 30s both dressed in jeans and T-shirts to make their life commitment to each other and then celebrated with an egg and chili breakfast in a diner. But the two gay men, who signed up for a same-sex civil union in the Mexican capital, said the lack of frills took nothing away from the joy they felt.

Obama's other surge

Todd BensmanMay 29, 2009 06:29Updated May 30, 2010 12:56
LAREDO, Texas — 2003 was a very bad year across the Rio Grande in Nuevo Laredo. But it was a very good year for Mando’s Guns and Ammo in this southern Texas border city. As open warfare between rival drug cartels filled the streets of Nuevo Laredo with bodies, Armando and Diana Villarreal, owners of Mando’s, prospered from a sharp sudden spike in demand for AK-47 semiautomatic assault rifles.

Apocalypse averted?

May 14, 2009 07:38Updated May 14, 2009 08:00
Add Ioan Grillo to your circles
Top News: The dreaded A H1N1 virus — more commonly known as swine flu — continued to dominate the Mexican ne

Interview with a hitman

Todd BensmanMay 8, 2009 07:39Updated May 30, 2010 12:54
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Through Department of Homeland Security contacts, Texas journalist Todd Bensman arranged in November 2008 to interview a former Mexican special forces soldier who went AWOL and joined the Gulf Cartel's notoriously brutal The Zetas enforcement gang. The Zetas are responsible for thousands of murders and for operating houses of torture all along the Mexican side of the Texas border.

Mobilizing against swine flu in Oaxaca

Brian L FrankMay 6, 2009 10:57Updated May 30, 2010 12:54
This photo essay takes a brief look at the Aurelio Valdivieso Hospital in Oaxaca, Mexico. The hospital is thought to be home to the first documented death of a patient from what would soon come to be known as “swine flu.” The patient, Adela Maria Gutierrez, presented with several symptoms that the doctors could not readily diagnose. She soon died but, thanks to the vigilance of the medical staff at the hospital, a greater disaster was averted when they recognized they were dealing with a new threat and notified the federal and state government.
Syndicate content