A report by the Brookings Institution has found that the US led War on drugs has failed. From the LA Times: The United States’ war on drugs has failed and will continue to do so as long as it emphasizes law enforcement and neglects the problem of consumption, a Washington think tank says in a report co-chaired [...]

Mexico President Felipe Calderon is continuing to promise that he will clean up his own government after several high profile officials were found to have been taking money from drug cartels. From the AP (via Google News): Calderon’s sweeping crackdown on powerful drug cartels has in recent weeks been shaken by a nationwide corruption scandal. The government revealed [...]

The former Drug Czar in Mexico was arrested on suspicion that he accepted $450,000 a month from drug smugglers. From CNN: Mexican authorities have detained the country’s former drug czar on suspicion that he may have accepted $450,000 a month in bribes from drug traffickers, Mexico’s attorney general said Friday. Noe Ramirez Mandujano was in charge from 2006 [...]

Mexico’s Liaison to Interpol was placed under house arrest for his ties to drug cartels. From the AP (via Google News): A top police official who worked as Mexico’s main liaison with Interpol was placed under house arrest as part of an investigation into leaks of information to drug cartels, prosecutors said Tuesday. The arrest of Ricardo Gutierrez [...]

The impact of the drug war in Mexico is being felt across the United States. From the Los Angeles Times: The drug violence that has left about 4,000 people dead this year in Mexico is spreading deep into the United States, leaving a trail of slayings, kidnappings and other crimes in at least 195 cities as far [...]

The elite in Mexico are spending more on private bodyguards as the drug war and kidnapping spread throughout the country. From the New York Times: With drug-related violence spinning out of control and kidnappings a proven money-maker for criminal gangs, members of Mexico’s upper class find themselves juggling the spoils of their status with the fear of [...]

Author Carlos Fuentes commented that the violence in Mexico due to its ongoing drug war is worse than fiction. From the AFP (via Google News): “We want to be writers but they turn us into prophets,” said Mexican author Carlos Fuentes, one of the Spanish-speaking world’s best-known living novelists, whose latest book explores Mexico’s growing violence. One character [...]

The ongoing drug war in Mexico is causing many Mexican nationals to skip their yearly trip home for the holidays. From the Los Angeles Times: As Mexican nationals and Mexican Americans begin to plan their holidays, many say they are choosing not to make the annual trek home to visit relatives. While some are dissuaded by the [...]

The plane crash carrying Mexico’s Interior Minister creates a huge setback for the government’s war on drug cartels. From the CS Monitor: Mexico’s battle against drug traffickers received a colossal setback Tuesday night, when two high-level officials leading the effort to stem narcotrafficking violence were killed in a [...]

Drug hitmen killed two senior law enforcement officials on Monday in Mexico. From Reuters: Suspected drug hitmen ambushed and killed two senior police officers with grenades and guns in Mexico, where escalating cartel violence has killed more than 4,000 people this year, police said on Monday. In the latest of a wave of police murders, gunmen threw grenades [...]