Mexico violence

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After Mayor Is Beheaded, 4 Others Seek Protection

Alejandro Arcos had been sworn into office less than a week before his murder

(Newser) - Four mayors in Mexico have asked federal authorities for protection after a colleague was beheaded last week in the southern state of Guerrero, officials said Tuesday. Mayor Alejandro Arcos had been sworn into office less than a week before. Federal Public Safety Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch said four mayors requested...

Mexican Politician Shot Dead While Posing for Selfie

His murder was caught on video

(Newser) - As Fernando Purón, a Mexican congressional candidate, left an election debate Friday, a woman asked him to stop for a selfie. As the pair posed, a man walked up behind them and shot Purón in the head in a horrifying scene caught on surveillance video, the Guardian reports....

How a Lone, Violence-Weary Snitch Felled Mexico Boss

Inside the capture of Teodoro 'El Teo' Garcia Simental

(Newser) - In the wake of the capture of a major Mexican crime boss last week, the Los Angeles Times has the untold story of a similar bust three years ago—when savage drug kingpin Teodoro "El Teo" Garcia Simental was brought down by an insider who was just tired of...

Mexico Band Massacre: Survivor Led Cops to Bodies

He managed to escape the armed men

(Newser) - Cops searching for a missing band in Mexico have pulled 18 bodies from a well after being led there by a band member who survived the massacre of his bandmates. The survivor says that after Kombo Kolombia played at a bar, armed men arrived and ordered them into vehicles, the...

16-Member Mexican Band Feared Murdered

Bodies found after Kombo Kolombia vanishes

(Newser) - Members of a Colombian-style band who disappeared after a gig in northern Mexico last week have become the latest musicians to be kidnapped and murdered by drug gangs, authorities fear. The 16-man Kombo Kolombia band and four of its roadies were reported missing early Friday; investigators have now discovered at...

Mexican Beauty Queen Killed in Shootout

20-year-old may have fired back at army

(Newser) - A Mexican beauty queen was shot dead in a gun battle between the military and the drug traffickers she was traveling with, a crime that echoed a recent hit Mexican movie. The body of Maria Susana Flores Gamez, the 20-year-old winner of a statewide beauty contest in Sinaloa, was found...

Mexico Captures 'El Taliban' Cartel Boss

Zetas arrest could end surge in massacres

(Newser) - Mexico appears to have struck a major blow against one faction of the hyper-violent Zetas cartel. The country's navy says it has captured one of the country's most-wanted drug traffickers, Ivan Velazquez Caballero, known as "El Taliban." The drug lord has been fighting a bloody internal...

Mexico Rocked as Hackers Revolt for Independence Day

Protesters slam election, violence, corruption

(Newser) - Mexican hackers took over several government and other websites in an Independence Day protest yesterday. The "Mexican Cyber" protest targeted public agencies, political parties, and the media, and replaced hacked pages with messages slamming the presidential election, corruption, drug violence, and economic problems, reports the BBC . "This a...

Mexico City Replaces All Airport Cops After Shootout

New federal officers all passed rigorous background checks

(Newser) - Following the June airport shooting deaths of three federal officers, Mexico has taken the drastic step of replacing all 348 security officers at the Mexico City International Airport with federal police. Since the June shooting was perpetrated by three fellow security officers suspected of being involved in cocaine trafficking, just...

In Ciudad Juarez, New Slew of Missing, Murdered Women

Remains of 12 people found recently determined to be female

(Newser) - The remains of 12 girls and women have been found in Ciudad Juarez in recent months, increasing concerns that young females are being targeted in the violent Mexican border city. Just six of the victims have been identified, all of them teens reported missing in 2009 and 2010; the other...

15 Bodies Dumped at Mexico Gas Station

Cartels at war again in Michoacan

(Newser) - The drug war appears to be heating up again in Mexican President Felipe Calderon's home state. Some 15 semi-naked bodies were found in a pile outside a gas station in Zitacuaro, Michoacan state, the BBC reports. All of the victims were male and three were minors. Police say threatening...

Soccer Star Busted in Mexico Kidnappings

Omar Ortiz allegedly helped gang identify rich targets to kidnap

(Newser) - A disgraced Mexican soccer goalkeeper has been arrested for allegedly helping a gang of kidnappers, reports MSNBC . Omar Ortiz, known as "El Gato" ("The Cat"), is accused of helping a gang identify rich targets for kidnapping, earning more than 10% of each victim's $73,000 ransom....

Mexico Activists to Hague: Investigate Drug War

Human rights activists also want president, officials investigated

(Newser) - With an estimated 45,000 dead in Mexico’s drug-related violence, and a growing number of those civilian casualties, human rights activists think it’s time for the Hague to step in. A petition signed by 23,000 citizens asks the International Criminal Court to investigate President Felipe Calderon, top...

17 Burned Bodies Found in Cartel-Plagued Sinaloa

In total, 24 were killed yesterday

(Newser) - Attacks in Sinaloa, the home state of Mexico's most powerful drug cartel, left 24 people dead and 17 of the victims' bodies were found burned in two pickup trucks. Neighbors called police after seeing a pickup truck on fire early yesterday in the state capital Culiacan; investigators found 12...

5 Severed Heads Left at Mexican School

Discovery comes as teachers strike over extortion threats

(Newser) - Another gruesome discovery in Mexico: Police found a crate with five severed heads outside a primary school in Acapulco, reports the BBC . The victims haven't been identified. The not-so-subtle threat comes amid a teachers' strike in the once-popular resort city, notes NPR . Educators refuse to reopen schools because they...

Five Women Stripped, Throats Slashed in Mexico

All connected to same beauty parlor, but police have no motive

(Newser) - Four women and a 14-year-old girl were found brutally murdered, with their throats slashed, in the Mexican beach resort of Acapulco yesterday, reports Reuters . All were connected to a local beauty parlor, although police say they don't have a motive yet. Three were found stripped and bound in the...

Body Count in Mexican Mass Graves Hits 116

Seventeen have been arrested in connection

(Newser) - Mexican authorities yesterday found 28 more bodies in the mass graves discovered in Tamaulipas last week , bringing the total number to 116. Seventeen people have been arrested in connection with the grisly uncovering. Most of the victims, believed to be kidnapped bus passengers , are probably Mexican, officials say, but few...

Mexican Kids Who've Seen Hell Find Little Help in US

Border schools ill-prepared to deal with their trauma

(Newser) - Sift past story after story about the bodies piling up in Mexico and you'll find another tragedy: the trauma the country's violence-weary kids are struggling to cope with—which is seeping its way into ill-prepared US schools. NPR takes a look at a high school in El Paso, one of...

Amid Storm of Violence, Mexicans Find Unlikely Refuge

Crime-ridden Mexico City is now looking pretty good

(Newser) - As the bloody stain of drug violence seeps into Mexico's border towns and resort areas alike, Mexicans are taking refuge in a place that would have been unthinkable even five short years ago: Mexico City. The capital city, long known as a place where cops could be bought and petty...

US Missionary Shot to Death in Mexico

Husband says gunmen in pickup truck fired at them

(Newser) - A female missionary from the US was fatally shot in Mexico yesterday, the AP reports. Husband Sam Davis drove his wife, Nancy, 59, back over the border after gunmen in a pickup shot her in the head after trying to stop their vehicle, he told police. Davis drove against traffic...

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