The New York Times, 07/11/2012
Two newspapers in northern Mexico have come under attack by gunfire and grenades this week, in what both called an effort to silence reporting on criminal groups.
The attacks, which damaged the offices but caused no injuries, occurred Tuesday, part of a spiral of violence against journalists that has made Mexico, in the throes of a drug war, the most dangerous place in the hemisphere for the news media.
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Media and Society, Mexican Culture, Security and the Rule of Law | Tagged: Drug War, El Mañana, El Norte, grenade attack, Grupo Reforma, Mexican drug cartels, Mexican journalist, Monterrey, Nuevo Laredo | 
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El Universal, 7/11/12
In Nuevo Leon an explosive was launched against, “El Mañana” and in Monterrey two grenade attacks were launched against two of ”El Norte’s” offices. The front of the newspapers buildings suffered the most damages. The Observatory for the Processes of Public Communication of Violence has said that this is proof that the state cannot guarantee safety for the press. Neither the newspapers directors nor the authorities have reported any casualties. Members of the Federal Police and the Army have cordoned off the areas while looking for clues as to which types of explosives were used. This is the second such attack that, ”El Mañana” has suffered this year.
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Mail Online, 5/8/2012
Mexico’s most prolific female assassin has confessed to murdering 20 people.
Maria Jimenez, aka La Tosca, was arrested last week in the northern city of Monterrey for her deadly role in the feared Los Zetas drug cartel.
The 26-year-old widow, who has reportedly confessed to the killings and several other crimes, was paid $1,700 per month.
She gunned down rival drug traffickers and a police officer – and was detained alongside three male assassins.
Five other men and women, accused of working as drug dealers and look-outs, were also arrested. Their gang allegedly controlled 14 drug selling hotspots in Monterrey’s metropolitan area.
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Reforma, 4/24/2012
With three weeks into the presidential campaign, the political propaganda of Enrique Peña Nieto is three times more the advertisement one can see for Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Josefina Vázquez Mota in the streets of the Federal District, Monterrey, and Guadalajara.
Grupo Reforma carried out a field study between April 15th and April 20th in the main highways of those three cities and their metropolitan areas. The study concluded that inside this area the four presidential candidates occupy at least 3,625 forms of campaign advertisement including posters, billboards, and signs on buses.
Enrique Peña Nieto, the PRI-PVEM candidate, is shown in at least 2,187 advertisement locations. This figure represents almost 16 times more the advertisement quantity of Gabriel Quadri, the candidate of Partido Nueva Alianza. In contrast, Josefina Vázquez Mota, Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Gabriel Quadri have hired 1,438 spaces to display political propaganda.
Read full article and interactive map of the specific locations of political propaganda by political party throughout the Federal District, Monterrey, and Guadalajara.
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El Universal, 4/23/2012
Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), candidate of Movimiento Progresista (a coalition between the PRD, the PT and Movimiento Ciudadano), made a commitment that, if he were to win the presidential election, he would visit the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León every 15 days in order to carry out an evaluation of the country’s state of security.
Given that Nuevo León is currently one of the states with the largest presence of organized crime groups, AMLO explained that he would meet with his security cabinet there.
AMLO also used his public appearance in front of the Palacio de Gobierno of Nuevo León to declare that his political campaign in this state is crucial as he seeks to establish a pact between workers and business leaders. He also stressed the importance of achieving a “permanent alliance” between the three sectors of Mexico’s economy: the public, the private, and the social one. “We need to further these three engines of the economy to achieve the rebirth of the country,” AMLO said.
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Associated Press, 4/11/12
Gunmen killed eight cab drivers Tuesday in two attacks in the city of Monterrey in northern Mexico, officials said. Three people including an 8-year-old girl were injured.
Nuevo Leon state public security spokesman Jorge Domene Zambrano says four gunmen shot the first five drivers outside a taxi base office. Minutes later, three men were killed apparently by the same group a few blocks away. Domene said two of the three people wounded in Tuesday’s attacks were innocent bystanders, including the girl.
He said the victims were driving taxis without permits. Police are investigating a former driver who became enraged and threatened his co-workers when he was fired for selling drugs. Also Tuesday, authorities in the western state of Michoacan said 13 men were killed.
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Los Angeles Times, 4/3/12
The violence spawned by organized crime now dominates the mind-set of Mexico’s wealthiest and third-largest city. Many of those who can leave do. Javier Guzman, a 25-year-old industrial engineer, eased his SUV toward the curb on a recent Sunday as a masked state police officer in the middle of the road signaled him to pull over.
Guzman rolled down his window, greeting the officer with a “buenas tardes.” “Do you live here? Where are you coming from?” the officer asked. “I live here, this car is mine,” Guzman replied. He had nothing to hide, yet began coughing nervously. The officer, dressed in black, from combat boots to ski mask, circled the vehicle. A long automatic assault rifle dangled at his side. After a few more questions, he let Guzman drive on.
Such checkpoints are now part of daily life in Monterrey, a metropolitan region of more than 4 million,Mexico‘swealthiest and third-largest city. The brief anxiety that these encounters produce in people is probably the least of residents’ worries.
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The Huffington Post, 2/6/2012
A Fuller Picture: Mexico’s Many Layers
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After the assassination of eight men and one woman in the city of Monterrey, elements of the State Investigation Agency (Agencia Estatal de Investigaciones) undertook an operation at bar La Eternidad and detained more than 150 people. Each of the nine bodies that were found yesterday had a stamp of the bar’s logo on their wrists.
Reforma, 1/27/2012
Tras el asesinato en Monterrey de ocho hombres y una mujer que se presume estuvieron en el Bar La Eternidad, elementos de la Agencia Estatal de Investigaciones realizaron anoche un operativo en el centro nocturno, en el que fueron detenidas más de 150 personas.
Desde las 23:40 horas del jueves, agentes ministeriales cerraron el cruce de Reforma y Amado Nervo, donde se apostaron elementos con armas de alto poder, mientras otros efectivos revisaron a los clientes, empleados y músicos que se encontraban en el lugar.
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The Huffington Post, 1/26/12
Nine people were shot to death early Thursday in the center of Monterrey, the third-largest city in Mexico and the scene of rampant drug violence in recent years.
The bodies of eight men between ages 25 and 30 were found on a street corner after neighbors reported hearing gunfire, said Adrian de la Garza, the Nuevo Leon state attorney general. The body of a woman was found nearby. De la Garza said the crimes appeared to be linked by the type of weapon used, but provided no more details.
He didn’t say if the killings were drug related. This northern industrial city has been plagued by fighting between the Gulf and Zetas cartels, former allies that split in early 2010.
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