Gunmen Kill U.S. Airman in Attack on Bar in Mexico

The Associated Press, 11/5/09
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — A gang of gunmen killed an off-duty U.S. airman and five other people early Wednesday at a bar in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, authorities said.
Meanwhile, gunmen assassinated an army general recently named police chief of Garcia, a town in the northern state of Nuevo Leon. [...]

Seizures of Weapons, Cash Increase Along Border

Los Angeles Times, 11/4/09
Federal authorities today announced a sharp increase in seizures of bulk cash and weapons along the Southwest border, the apparent result of bolstered efforts to intercept contraband destined for Mexico.
More than $40 million in illicit cash was seized from March through September, nearly double the amount intercepted during the same period a [...]

Reporter Kidnapped and Killed in Northern Mexico

Associated Press, 11/4/09
A news reporter who wrote about violent drug crimes has been strangled in the northern Mexican state of Durango, authorities said Tuesday.
El Tiempo de Durango journalist Jose Bladimir Antuna was kidnapped Monday morning, said Ruben Lopez, spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office. Authorities found his body that night in a vacant lot [...]

Mexico Mayor Announces Death Before Body is Found

Associated Press, 11/4/09
Mauricio Fernandez couldn’t have been happier.
Here he was, being sworn in again as mayor of one of northern Mexico’s most exclusive communities, and he had wonderful news to share: “Black Saldana, who apparently is the one who was asking for my head, was found dead today in Mexico City,” he told his cheering [...]

Violence Among Young Soars As Drug Cartels Recruit More Minors

Washington Post, 11/3/09
CIUDAD JUAREZ, MEXICO — The number of minors swept up in Mexico’s drug wars — as killers and victims — is soaring, with U.S. and Mexican officials warning that a toxic culture of fast money, drug abuse and murder is creating a “lost generation.”
Although the exploitation of children by criminals is timeless, authorities [...]

Mexico-US Hold Extradition Talks

BBC, 11/2/09
Arturo Chavez and US Attorney General Eric Holder are expected to discuss further co-operation in the extradition of suspected criminals to the US.
Eleven fugitives were transferred over the Mexican border on Sunday, bringing the total extradited this year to 100.
The US says this is a sign of increased co-operation between the two countries.
Read [...]

Mexico-US Hold Extradition Talks

BBC, 11/2/09
Arturo Chavez and US Attorney General Eric Holder are expected to discuss further co-operation in the extradition of suspected criminals to the US.
Eleven fugitives were transferred over the Mexican border on Sunday, bringing the total extradited this year to 100.
The US says this is a sign of increased co-operation between the two [...]

Gunmen Kill Union Leader in Mexico

The New York Times, 10/31/09
Gunmen ambushed a peasant union leader and his family in northern Mexico, killing him and 14 others in an attack that bore the hallmarks of a hit by drug cartels but one that his organization said might have been related to his union work.
The victims, who included four children, were leaving [...]

Reeling Mexico Hopes Travel Deals Bring Back the Tourists

USA Today, 10/30/09
During a visit to San Diego in April, Pratik and Priti Chavda thought they’d slip over the border into Tijuana just to do a little shopping, have a quick meal and say they had made it to Mexico. But upon hearing the plan, staffers at their hotel sounded the alarm.
“Swine flu! Drug cartels! [...]

Mexico Now Embracing U.S. Training in Drug War

The Arizona Republic, 10/29/09
SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico – At a police academy ringed by brick walls and razor wire, dozens of American agents are helping to train Mexican police recruits as part of a $1.4 billion U.S. aid project aimed at helping Mexico fight its drug cartels.
The program, which opened without fanfare in July in [...]