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Raúl Flores, ‘El Tío’, the discreet cartel kingpin who left no trace
The 71-year-old drug trafficker, who for years worked under the protection of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, has been sentenced to 22 years in prison in the US
The 71-year-old drug trafficker, who for years worked under the protection of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, has been sentenced to 22 years in prison in the US
It’s the big threat. A cheap, white powder — 50 times more powerful than heroin — which kills more than 70,000 people each year in the United States and countless others across the rest of the Western Hemisphere. EL PAÍS, in a long-term investigation that spanned two continents and included interviews with anti-drug czars in the U.S. and China, visited the clandestine laboratories in Sinaloa, where fentanyl is manufactured. In the vicinity of these Mexican labs, addicts serve as guinea pigs for drug traffickers. This newspaper has gathered testimonies about how this lethal substance crosses the border to the north and spreads like a plague through the streets of the most powerful country in the world. The trafficking of fentanyl is part of a global network with one foot in China, which the White House has declared war on
The countryside is losing millions of hectares of crops due to land being abandoned. Violence and extortion add to the ravages of climate change and the lack of subsidies
The collection of this ‘tax’ unleashes violence that leaves hundreds of people dead each year, and it robs the public coffers of a fortune
Carlos Hernández’s documentary portrays some of the reasons that have led 19,000 children and adolescents a year to seek a better life in the United States
The authorities claim that 195 bullets were fired from seven different weapons. They are now targeting ‘a group of people that operates’ on the borders between the Mexican states of Guanajuato and Michoacán
An armed group opened fire on a group of friends and the music band during a holiday celebration on a private estate in Salvatierra, in the state of Guanajuato, the scene of bloody turf battles between drug cartels
Caught between drug violence and the devastating effects of insatiable demand, the southern border clings to naloxone, a medication that can reverse overdoses stemming from opioids. But while it’s saving lives in the United States, it’s virtually impossible to find in Mexico
Lawyers for the former Mexican official, imprisoned in the U.S. for drug trafficking and organized crime, say they have new evidence that exonerates their client
María Consuelo Loera’s final moments coincided with the heralding of two changes in national drug trafficking: the rise of synthetic drugs and cartels that are less sustained by family relationships
A battle between a group of farmers and the cartel, which left 14 dead, has led to fear of reprisals in the agricultural community where hundreds of National Guard troops have been deployed
Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas was the head of security for Los Chapitos, the branch of the organization led by the sons of El Chapo, and suspected of orchestrating the violence unleashed in response to the detention of Ovidio Guzmán
The massacre of six young people reveals how organized crime has imposed its rule over a Mexican state that is plagued by everyday violence and a war between cartels
An investigation published in ‘Science’ estimates the cartels contain around 175,000 people and recruit some 350 new members every week to cover losses from violence and imprisonment
By forcing their way into more and more sectors, organized crime has become ‘a dominant economic cartel,’ according to analysts
The Department of Justice indictments reveal some of the atrocities committed by the Sinaloa Cartel, which include kidnappings, torture, and the bribery of officials
The mayor of the coastal municipality does not stay in the same place for more than one night after an assassination attempt and authorities cannot safeguard the lives of schoolchildren amid a gang turf war
Candidates for political office can no longer sideline or neglect the women who are looking for their missing loved ones
Drug traffickers’ infiltration of the industry that is responsible for about 30% of the world’s bananas has contributed to unprecedented violence across this once-peaceful nation
The Sinaloa Cartel leader asks Judge Brian Cogan to authorize visits from Emma Coronel and the two daughters he has with former beauty queen
The presidential election campaign has been marked by violence and the assassination of one of the candidates amid a wave of organized crime-related terror
The broadcast of brutal images of the kidnapping of the five young men has kept Mexico on edge and shows the slow progress of investigations into cases of missing persons
More cocaine moves through Ecuador than any other country in the world, meaning cartels like Sinaloa and the CJNG need local criminal organizations to handle transport and logistics
The presidential candidate was assassinated while traveling in a state-provided vehicle that lacked armor despite the multiple threats he had received from organized crime
Víctor Ponce has fallen victim to a horrifying crime, a decade after he and 75 of his relatives were ruthlessly uprooted from Chihuahua by a notorious crime gang
Mexico’s former tourism jewel has been rocked by a fresh wave of violence, including kidnappings, murders and narco-blockades, in recent days
The Mexican government has done little to stem the violence around the state, while local business owners demand greater collaboration with the US