http://www.avclub.com/review/narco-cultura-explores-mexican-drug-cartels-and-th-105858
― christmas candy bar (al leong), Thursday, 21 November 2013 07:16 (ten years ago) link
http://www.vocativ.com/11-2013/avocado/
This one's especially sad/fascinating.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 25 November 2013 16:52 (ten years ago) link
it seems like they're bleeding everyone dry. even the waiters and bartenders in Cancun (who may not even make $15k a year) have to pay a fee or get burned alive.
― frogbs, Monday, 25 November 2013 17:01 (ten years ago) link
great photo essay about grupos autodefensas that are disarming cartels (and others) in various mexican stateshttp://www.businessinsider.com/mexican-vigilantes-battle-drug-cartel-photos-2014-1
― mambo jumbo (La Lechera), Monday, 13 January 2014 20:35 (ten years ago) link
el chapo -- arrested! http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-mexico-drug-arrest-20140222,0,4503693.story#axzz2u4Q6KWth
MEXICO CITY -- Joaquin Guzman, "El Chapo," the most wanted drug lord in Mexico and a multibillionaire fugitive, has been captured, a senior U.S. official said Saturday.Few details were available. But Guzman has long been considered the top prize and most elusive figure in an extensive, ongoing drug war that has left tens of thousands of Mexicans dead.Guzman led the Sinaloa cartel, the most powerful, richest and oldest of the drug-trafficking networks in Mexico. The group is responsible for the shipment of tons of cocaine and marijuana to the U.S.The senior official said Guzman was captured early Saturday in the Sinaloa city of Mazatlan and was being transported to Mexico City. No shots were fired in the capture, the source said, which was based on information from an informant.In recent days, the Mexican marines have been raiding numerous properties in Sinaloa belonging to close associates of Guzman.Guzman was arrested in Guatemala in 1993 but escaped from prison in 2001 and has been on the lam ever since.
― we slowly invented brains (La Lechera), Saturday, 22 February 2014 18:50 (ten years ago) link
wow
― espring (amateurist), Saturday, 22 February 2014 20:29 (ten years ago) link
Story on the Sinaloa cartel's start in Chicago in the 90s:http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/25849267-418/drug-cartels-the-doctor-helped-run-chicago-operation.html
― That's So (Eazy), Saturday, 1 March 2014 17:31 (ten years ago) link
this has been all over the news lately. seems like people are finally starting to sort of understand/care about how the international drug trade has operated for the last bazumpteen years?
― we slowly invented brains (La Lechera), Saturday, 1 March 2014 17:42 (ten years ago) link
For a good primer, try this radio series. The text that accompanies the segment pretty much says it all http://revealradio.org/tracing-chicagos-heroin-supply-chain/
Tracing Chicago’s heroin supply chainEver wondered how heavy narcotics such as heroin make it to America’s streets? Where it comes from, how it’s distributed and who it hurts?That was the focus of a yearlong investigation by WBEZ and the Chicago Reader, which tracked the heroin supply chain from Mexico to Chicago and across the Midwest.In our feature segment on “Reveal,” reporters Chip Mitchell and Natalie Moore explain the economics behind the heroin resurgence and paint a detailed picture of how the drugs end up in American communities.According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Sinaloa cartel is responsible for 70 to 80 percent of the narcotics moving through Chicago. On Feb. 22, its leader, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was arrested in Mexico.Explore the full series from WBEZ and the Chicago Reader here.
Ever wondered how heavy narcotics such as heroin make it to America’s streets? Where it comes from, how it’s distributed and who it hurts?
That was the focus of a yearlong investigation by WBEZ and the Chicago Reader, which tracked the heroin supply chain from Mexico to Chicago and across the Midwest.
In our feature segment on “Reveal,” reporters Chip Mitchell and Natalie Moore explain the economics behind the heroin resurgence and paint a detailed picture of how the drugs end up in American communities.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Sinaloa cartel is responsible for 70 to 80 percent of the narcotics moving through Chicago. On Feb. 22, its leader, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, was arrested in Mexico.
Explore the full series from WBEZ and the Chicago Reader here.
― we slowly invented brains (La Lechera), Saturday, 1 March 2014 21:19 (ten years ago) link
The zetas' IT man:
http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/radio-tecnico-how-zetas-cartel-took-over-mexico-walkie-talkies
― sktsh, Sunday, 30 March 2014 23:30 (ten years ago) link
I don't know what to say about this other than it's awful and upsetting
https://news.vice.com/article/how-a-mexican-cartel-demolished-a-town-incinerated-hundreds-of-victims-and-got-away-with-it?utm_source=vicenewsfb
― everyday sheeple (Michael B), Friday, 19 September 2014 17:29 (nine years ago) link
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/10/missing-mexico-students-mass-graves
Mass graves of protesting students, 26 police officers now in custody on suspicion of murder.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Friday, 10 October 2014 10:58 (nine years ago) link
yeah i heard about that on the radio on my way to class, where i handed back a beautifully written student paper about her family ranch in guerrero. horrible
― cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Friday, 10 October 2014 13:44 (nine years ago) link
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/mexican-drug-cartel-killed-journalist-posted-pictures-dead-body-twitter-account-article-1.1984657
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Thursday, 23 October 2014 21:05 (nine years ago) link
The mayor of Iguala has been charged with six murders connected to the student protests.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/14/mexican-mayor-jose-luis-abarca-charged-murder-students
He can probably expect another forty three to be added to that at some point. The theory is that he feared students would try to disrupt an event promoting his wife's political career so he colluded with the police and one of the cartels to have them kidnapped and killed. She has strong ties to the Beltran Levya group and appears to have been running her own gang in the city.
― Wristy Hurlington (ShariVari), Sunday, 16 November 2014 11:57 (nine years ago) link
http://thenewinquiry.com/essays/a-country-disappeared/
At least 60,000 people have died since Calderón had taken office in 2006, and around 22,000 are presumed missing. The government stopped releasing figures in 2011 and put a 30-year lock on them, meaning that we’d never really be sure what the toll was.
― never say goodbye before leaving chat room (Crabbits), Sunday, 23 November 2014 18:45 (nine years ago) link
From Al-Jazeera US: Mexican drug cartels are worse than ISIL: Western obsession with the Islamic State is fueled more by bigotry than any genuine assessment of risk or atrocities
― never say goodbye before leaving chat room (Crabbits), Sunday, 23 November 2014 18:49 (nine years ago) link
i watched the 48 hrs on this dude, p interesting
http://www.mexicogulfreporter.com/2014/11/bruce-beresford-redmans-prison-diary.html?spref=tw
conditions cant be that bad, hes reading david foster wallace
http://i.imgur.com/zi45joB.jpg
― johnny crunch, Thursday, 27 November 2014 23:36 (nine years ago) link
id say his case should be the next serial but seems like mexican authorities destroyed most evidence altogether
― johnny crunch, Thursday, 27 November 2014 23:41 (nine years ago) link
el chapo -- arrested! http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-mexico-drug-arrest-20140222,0,4503693.story#axzz2u4Q6KWthMEXICO CITY -- Joaquin Guzman, "El Chapo," the most wanted drug lord in Mexico and a multibillionaire fugitive, has been captured, a senior U.S. official said Saturday.Few details were available. But Guzman has long been considered the top prize and most elusive figure in an extensive, ongoing drug war that has left tens of thousands of Mexicans dead.Guzman led the Sinaloa cartel, the most powerful, richest and oldest of the drug-trafficking networks in Mexico. The group is responsible for the shipment of tons of cocaine and marijuana to the U.S.The senior official said Guzman was captured early Saturday in the Sinaloa city of Mazatlan and was being transported to Mexico City. No shots were fired in the capture, the source said, which was based on information from an informant.In recent days, the Mexican marines have been raiding numerous properties in Sinaloa belonging to close associates of Guzman.Guzman was arrested in Guatemala in 1993 but escaped from prison in 2001 and has been on the lam ever since
MEXICO CITY -- Joaquin Guzman, "El Chapo," the most wanted drug lord in Mexico and a multibillionaire fugitive, has been captured, a senior U.S. official said Saturday.Few details were available. But Guzman has long been considered the top prize and most elusive figure in an extensive, ongoing drug war that has left tens of thousands of Mexicans dead.Guzman led the Sinaloa cartel, the most powerful, richest and oldest of the drug-trafficking networks in Mexico. The group is responsible for the shipment of tons of cocaine and marijuana to the U.S.The senior official said Guzman was captured early Saturday in the Sinaloa city of Mazatlan and was being transported to Mexico City. No shots were fired in the capture, the source said, which was based on information from an informant.In recent days, the Mexican marines have been raiding numerous properties in Sinaloa belonging to close associates of Guzman.Guzman was arrested in Guatemala in 1993 but escaped from prison in 2001 and has been on the lam ever since
Escaped again.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-33497301
― I wear my Redditor loathing with pride (ShariVari), Sunday, 12 July 2015 08:33 (eight years ago) link
Reading Don Winslow's novel The Cartel right now - he's the author of Savages (along with many other books) but this one is much broader in scope and much less pulpy, and is dedicated to dozens of journalists who've been murdered covering the drug war. I guess I'd compare it to James Ellroy's The Big Nowhere in the way it blends fiction and real events, changes names but leaves it pretty obvious who they're based on, etc. A very interesting book.
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Sunday, 12 July 2015 19:20 (eight years ago) link
read Murder City and then El Sicario last week, kind of in a spin about them now, to put together some reflection on what Bowden means to say that this is "the future". I think he means something about :
the corruption of legal authority by money
the erosion of "natural" limits on violence by drugs
the desire to be gods
but it's neither one of these nor the other but rather all together.
& the erosion of limits on violence is key ; because you see men who are not psychopaths in any usual sense become professional killers, for whom it seems that the first kill is the crucial one, because to do so breaks a taboo that then permits the killer great power thereafter, power that is otherwise thought beyond reach. and it makes you like a god. I've been reading books on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism prior to this & there too you see torrents of violence following the first kills by "ordinary men".
I can't get my head around this yet.
― droit au butt (Euler), Monday, 21 September 2015 14:21 (eight years ago) link
I also read murder city and what struck me most was the hopelessness for some people in certain areas who could be killed by the cartels, the police, or the army, and that all three parties have elements that are either in cahoots with one another or at war with one another. And if you need help, you don't know if the police or army sent to help will protect you or hand you over to people who will kill you. also spooked by those Juarez party houses where they'd just torture and kill people and bury them in the backyards. And they're just houses in a regular subdivision.
Just the idea that the violence is coming from all elements of power directed at everyone almost arbitrarily, like the story he tells about the massacre at the rehab clinic.
― nomar, Monday, 21 September 2015 14:38 (eight years ago) link
has anyone seen "cartel land"
― jason waterfalls (gbx), Saturday, 24 October 2015 21:02 (eight years ago) link
it looks really interesting but i'm a little suspicious of bigelow's involvement (in that it might spend a little too much time on the macho vigilantes bringing evil to justice and not, like, on the completely horrifying effects the war has had on the general populace)
might be concern-trolling myself, tho
― jason waterfalls (gbx), Saturday, 24 October 2015 21:04 (eight years ago) link
Chapo vs. ISIS, coming soon from Electronic Arts:
http://nypost.com/2015/12/10/el-chapo-tells-isis-his-men-will-destroy-them/
― my harp and me (Eazy), Thursday, 10 December 2015 20:46 (eight years ago) link
probably the closest we'll ever get to a real life Alien vs Predator tbh
― nomar, Friday, 11 December 2015 16:27 (eight years ago) link
I think the proper term is "undocumented immigrant."
― pplains, Saturday, 12 December 2015 06:16 (eight years ago) link
Censor or Die: The Death of Mexican News In the Age of Drug Cartels
― pplains, Sunday, 13 December 2015 03:29 (eight years ago) link
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/gunmen-kill-mexico-mayor-gisela-mota-one-day-after-taking-n489206?cid=sm_tw&hootPostID=9e9b4efb61ffd9eb2a5c2b0e4bf902d5
― alomar lines, Saturday, 2 January 2016 23:41 (eight years ago) link
Also, the U.S. consulate in Tijuana was set on fire:
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/jan/04/fire-consulate-tijuana-deliberately-set/
― (please no long guns of any kind) (Eazy), Tuesday, 5 January 2016 03:13 (eight years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPhFWHJsgkcthe raid which recaptured El Chapo
― Pancho and Left Eye (rip van wanko), Wednesday, 13 January 2016 19:42 (eight years ago) link
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/03/americas/mexico-baby-murdered/index.html
― nomar, Thursday, 4 February 2016 10:58 (eight years ago) link
This stupid fucking world we live in. Jesus Christ.
― how's life, Thursday, 4 February 2016 12:53 (eight years ago) link
HE GONE (again)
― if young slothrop don't trust ya i'm gon' rhyme ya (slothroprhymes), Friday, 8 July 2016 19:43 (seven years ago) link
or maybe not? no reportage on it beyond the daily mail and a shitload of tweets, could be bullshit
― if young slothrop don't trust ya i'm gon' rhyme ya (slothroprhymes), Friday, 8 July 2016 19:50 (seven years ago) link
I presume you refer to Joaquin Guzman, aka "El Chapo." Enough money buys one a lot of things.
― a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Friday, 8 July 2016 19:52 (seven years ago) link
i do indeed refer to joaquin guzman loera. not seeing any actual news outlets report that he's escaped tho
― if young slothrop don't trust ya i'm gon' rhyme ya (slothroprhymes), Friday, 8 July 2016 19:58 (seven years ago) link
it wouldnt surprise me in the fuckin slightest, seeing as he a. continues to get government help regardless of who's in los pinos and b. is on the verge of being extradited to the U.S.
― if young slothrop don't trust ya i'm gon' rhyme ya (slothroprhymes), Friday, 8 July 2016 19:59 (seven years ago) link
Looks like someone got in before that wall got built.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/world/el-chapo-extradited-mexico.html?_r=0
― pplains, Friday, 20 January 2017 03:21 (seven years ago) link
for a while there was a lot of news about cartel violence in mexico
has it slowed down? did we stop caring? or did all the journalists get killed?
― the late great, Friday, 20 January 2017 03:54 (seven years ago) link
and a few minutes googling seems to indicate, no, the violence hasn't slowed down
also that, like this thread, the drug war in mexico is officially 10 years old
― the late great, Friday, 20 January 2017 03:58 (seven years ago) link
this was the big scuttlebutt at my workplace yesterday
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, 20 January 2017 20:02 (seven years ago) link
https://www.propublica.org/article/allende-zetas-cartel-massacre-and-the-us-dea
― Eazy, Wednesday, 14 June 2017 02:53 (seven years ago) link
^^Amazing level of reporting on the Allende massacre.
― Eazy, Monday, 19 June 2017 17:51 (six years ago) link
It was a very hard but necessary read, that.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 19 June 2017 17:54 (six years ago) link
https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Cartel-Hit-Martin-Corona/dp/1101984627
upcoming cartel memoir from a guy who's now in Witness Protection
― El Tuomasbot (milo z), Monday, 19 June 2017 19:14 (six years ago) link
OTOH, the propublica article mostly just says many at higher echelons in the DEA remain oblivious to how compromised Mexican law enforcement is.
Its hard to imagine how the DEA intended to use those Zeta phone locations without informing at least some level of the Mexican government. The DEA itself isn't really outfitted for large scale covert ops in foreign nations, and Delta + MC-130s would require some level of cooperation.
― it's just locker room treason (Sanpaku), Monday, 19 June 2017 22:28 (six years ago) link
i read this book last year, wanted to recommend it.
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51R3mBhwCPL._SX324_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
it really gets at the daily life of a reporter who just happens to occasionally cover cartel issues and the effect it has on his family and friends.
― nomar, Thursday, 31 August 2017 02:07 (six years ago) link
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/20/world/americas/mexico-drug-war-dead.html?emc=edit_ta_20171120&nl=top-stories&nlid=57981500&ref=cta
― omar little, Tuesday, 21 November 2017 03:26 (six years ago) link