Mexico's drug wars

Police officers guard a crime scene following an assassination attempt on Mexico City's chief of police Omar García Harfuch, in Mexico City last month.

World News

As Mexico's Dominant Cartel Gains Power, The President Vows 'Hugs, Not Bullets'

10:28pm July 23, 2020

by Carrie Kahn

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel dominates fentanyl and methamphetamine trafficking and is linked to various assassinations. But President Andrés Manuel López Obrador says, "We will not declare war."

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Marijuana plants are grown for medicinal purposes in a clandestine greenhouse in Mexico City in 2015. Mexico legalized medical marijuana in 2017, but recreational pot remains largely illegal.

World News

In Mexico, Is Legalized Pot Just A Pipe Dream?

4:14pm February 05, 2018

by Emily Green

The Mexican tourism secretary said travel destinations like Cancún and Baja California Sur should legalize marijuana.

Line workers sort freshly cut avocados at Frutas Finas packing plant in Tancitaro. Forty-five percent of the world's avocados come from Mexico. Eighty percent of avocados consumed in the U.S. come from Mexico, the majority from the small mountain town of

World News

Blood Avocados No More: Mexican Farm Town Says It's Kicked Out Cartels

10:17am February 02, 2018

by Carrie Kahn

Americans will mash up and scarf down millions of the fruits in one day — Super Bowl Sunday. According to authorities in Mexico, at least one town grows what you might call "conflict-free avocados."

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Spent bullet casings litter a road after authorities reported a gunbattle outside Mazatlan, Mexico, in July 2017, a year marked by the highest homicides in at least decades.

World News

Mexico Registers Its Highest Homicides On Record

6:16pm January 25, 2018

by James Fredrick

The country racked up nearly 30,000 homicides in 2017, the most since it began reporting the statistic in 1997. But that doesn't make it the "most dangerous" country as President Trump claimed.

A Mexican soldier piles poppies for incineration near the town of Tlacotepec, in Guerrero state, Mexico. The army says it slashes and burns poppy when fields are too difficult to access by helicopter or when they want to protect fruits and vegetables grow

World News

On The Hunt For Poppies In Mexico — America's Biggest Heroin Supplier

5:02pm January 14, 2018

by James Fredrick

The Mexican army gave NPR a firsthand look at its efforts to eradicate the flowering crop that's made into heroin.

Mexican marines arrive after an attack against the building of the Quintana Roo State Prosecution in Cancun earlier this year. A new report on armed conflicts included Mexico's drug cartel violence in its rankings.

World News

Mexico Is World's Second Most Violent Country, Report Says

6:52pm May 10, 2017

by Bill Chappell

Mexico's government is contesting a new international report that says the country's drug cartel violence caused 23,000 homicides in 2016 — a level surpassed only by Syria.

Don Winslow has written 17 novels, including The Power of the Dog and The Cartel.

Books
Arts

'Cartel' Author Spins A Grand Tale Of Mexico's Drug Wars

4:42pm July 15, 2015

Novelist Don Winslow spent 10 years researching the Mexican drug wars. His new novel, The Cartel, reveals "a new generation of cartel leaders that are more violent, more sadistic" than ever before.

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Concertgoers take photos of the band Intocable at a concert in Juarez, Mexico last year.

World News

The Violence Subsides, And Revelers Return To Juarez

11:46am June 15, 2015

by Mandalit del Barco

The once-thriving nightlife in the Mexican border town ground to a halt a few years back as hundreds of women were murdered and the drug cartel wars erupted. Now, partiers are venturing out again.

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Authorities say these vehicles caught fire during a gunbattle in a warehouse at Rancho del Sol, near Ecuanduero, in western Mexico, on Friday.

World News

Dozens Dead In Mexican Shootout Between Gangs, Police

10:33am May 26, 2015

by Scott Neuman

At least 43 people were killed in what is being described as the worst gun battle with drug gangs in recent memory.

Matamoros had a reputation as a laid-back border town and was relatively quiet when NPR paid a visit last year. Now, a feud between rival drug gangs keeps citizens inside and visitors away.

World News

Matamoros Becomes Ground Zero As Drug War Shifts On Mexican Border

8:00pm April 01, 2015

by John Burnett

Violence has descended on the once laid back tourist town of Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas. From mechanics to Twitter users, residents are feeling the effects of a turf war.

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