Mexico marines kill eight suspected gangsters in Mexico City

07/20/2017 Reuters

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – At least eight suspected gang members died on Thursday in a gun battle with Mexican marines in Mexico City, which has largely been spared the worst of the country’s drug violence.

Mexico’s Navy said in statement that a patrol of marines in Tlahuac, in the southeastern part of the capital, was attacked by suspected gang members, sparking the gunfight. The Navy said that among the dead was Felipe de Jesus Luna, whom it described as the head of a violent criminal organization.

The Navy said the gangsters were suspected of drug dealing, extortion, murder and kidnapping. It did not say if any of the marines were injured.

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What’s Behind Rising Violence in Colima?: A Brief Look at 2016’s Most Violence Mexican State

The Expert Take, By Eric L. Olson & Gina Hinojosa

May 2017 was Mexico’s deadliest month on record.[1] 2,200 people were reportedly murdered nationwide that month, bringing the country’s death toll to nearly 10,000 since the beginning of the year. If the violence continues at this pace, 2017 will become Mexico’s most murderous year since the federal government began releasing homicide data in 1997, surpassing its previous annual homicide record of 23,000 murders in 2011.

Mexico has struggled with elevated violence for over a decade since the government launched an aggressive campaign against the country’s drug cartels in 2007. Deploying federal troops to communities particularly affected by drug violence has done little to stem criminal organizations’ drug trafficking operations[2] or curb violent crime. In fact, by 2011, Mexico’s murder rate had more than doubled, and while homicides declined moderately between 2012 and 2014, violence picked up once more in 2015 and has continued to rise since (see Figure 1).

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Mexico, U.S. vow to bolster joint fight against drug cartels

7/7/2017 Reuters

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly shake hands with Mexico’s Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong after deliver a joint message at the Secretary of Interior Building in Mexico City, Mexico, July 7, 2017. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

Mexico and the United States are seeking to forge closer ties to fight arms trafficking and organized crime, Mexico’s interior minister said on Friday, as he and U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly vowed to redouble efforts to battle drug cartels.

“We’re looking at new forms of cooperation on issues like arms trafficking … and obviously combating international criminal organizations dedicated to drug trafficking,” Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong told a news conference.

Osorio Chong did not provide details as he spoke alongside Kelly, who was coming to the end of a three-day visit to Mexico.

Kelly, who on Thursday traveled to one of Mexico’s most lawless regions to discuss the military’s efforts to battle drug traffickers and observe opium poppy eradication, said the two sides aimed to strengthen joint security cooperation.

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Bloody Battle in Sinaloa, Mexico Reflects Splintering Underworld

07/03/2017 InSight Crime

A confrontation between security forces in Mexico’s embattled state of Sinaloa and an armed group left 19 dead and 5 injured, and provided further evidence of a splintering Sinaloa Cartel.

The battle, which took place on June 30, began in the town of Villa Unión, southeast of the resort town of Mazatlán in Sinaloa state when an armed group operating in four vans killed two men, Noroeste reported.

Police intercepted the vans and two policemen were injured, according to Noroeste. From there, more police pursued the armed group into a rural area of Mazatlán, eight kilometers from Villa Unión.

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Report Underscores Mexico’s Flawed Response to Rising Violence

6/30/2017 InSight Crime

A new report on high-impact crimes in Mexico underscores that violence and insecurity continue to be grave problems, raising further questions about the country’s lack of effective strategies to combat growing violence.

The report from Mexico’s National Citizens Observatory (Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano – ONC), the 2016 Incidences of High Impact Crimes in Mexico (Incedencia de los delitos de alto impacto en México), is an annual study put out by the civil society organization analyzing the year’s high-impact crimes.

2016 was one of the worst years ever for Mexico in terms of security, specifically with regard to intentional homicides, the government’s main indicator of violence and insecurity, according to the report.

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Criminal gangs kill 11 in Mexico’s Veracruz state

6/25/2017 Reuters

Eleven people were killed in Mexico’s Veracruz state by criminal gangs on Saturday, including four children and the head of the state’s federal police and two other federal police officers, Governor Miguel Angel Yunes said.

Veracruz is home to rival drug cartels including the Zetas and Jalisco New Generation, or CJNG, which are fighting over drug trafficking turf.

Armed gunmen shot and killed the three police officers, including the head of the federal police in Veracruz, Camilo Juan Castagne, at a restaurant in the city of Cardel.

In the port city of Coatzacoalcos, two adults and four children were killed, while two women were killed in the city of Orizaba.

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Mexico Arrests Knights Templar Leader, Cementing Group’s Demise

6/22/2017 InSight Crime

Authorities in Mexico have arrested one of the last main leaders of the Knights Templar crime group, likely leaving the organization’s already debilitated leadership in further disarray and raising questions about which organized crime groups may try to capitalize on their weakening.

Ignacio Rentería Andrade, alias “El Cenizo,” was arrested in the Parácuaro municipality of Mexico’s western state of Michoacán on June 21 after a confrontation between armed individuals and soldiers, Proceso reported.

Rentería Andrade is the alleged leader of the Knights Templar (Caballeros Templarios), and reportedly had the largest territorial leadership of the group, Milenio reported.

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