Seeking to improve understanding, communication, and cooperation between Mexico and the United States by promoting original research, encouraging public discussion, and proposing policy options for enhancing the bilateral relationship.
8/9/19 – Washington Post
Vigilante attacks and mob justice are on the rise in Mexico as violence mounts and dozens of bodies have appeared along roadsides.
Authorities in the northern state of Sinaloa say five young men were murdered recently, and toy cars were placed atop their corpses. These men were apparently car thieves.
8/8/19 – Reuters
By Lizbeth Diaz and Julia Love
Mexican authorities said Thursday that they found 19 bodies, some dismembered, in the southwestern state of Michoacan, as the federal government seeks to combat rising violence with a new militarised police.
The victims, which included three women, were found at three different locations in the drug-cartel hotbed of Uruapan, state prosecutor Adrian Lopez told reporters Thursday morning. Some of the victims were “broken up,” while others had been shot, he added.
7/17/19 – The New York Times
By Azam Ahmed
In the bloody churn of the global drug trade, there are no fixed, permanent characters. Cartel leaders are seldom more than temporary players, rising and falling with unfailing predictability as a new cast rushes in to replace them.
So it goes even with Joaquin Guzman Loera, the infamous drug lord known as El Chapo, who was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday in New York for smuggling tons of drugs into the United States and leaving a trail of death in his wake.
6/24/19 – New York Times
By Lizbeth Diaz
Mexico’s government vowed on Monday to identify thousands of human remains that have accumulated in morgues and mass graves during more than a decade of gang violence and stirred anger among bereaved families.
The government said it would initially commit 400 million pesos ($21 million) to work through the backlog, including updating forensic databases, establishing five new forensic centers, bringing in experts and using new technologies.
6/23/19 – Reuters
By Diego Oré
Houses with swimming pools and escape tunnels, a ranch surrounded by hectares of land and a luxury apartment with a grisly history were among the 27 properties Mexico had seized from drug traffickers and others were auctioned on Sunday.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador promised that the proceeds from the auction of properties and land, which had been seized by previous governments, would go to aid marginalized communities in the poor and violent state Guerrero.
5/29/2019 – Associated Press
By Cedar Attanasio
A Mexican man accused of running a death squad for convicted drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was due in a Texas courtroom on Wednesday to face a raft of charges.
5/24/2019 – The Washington Post
By MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Congress approved a series of safeguards Thursday intended to prevent abuses under the country’s new militarized police force known as the National Guard.
Critics worry the National Guard may transfer military practices to the subtleties of police work including rules of procedure, evidence and engagement.
The four new laws approved in the lower house set out specific guidelines on the use of force and respect for human rights.
