Crime rates are climbing across Mexico, as cartels splinter into smaller groups competing ferociously for turf. Just one state, Guerrero, contends with at least 40 such outfits. The government needs a tailored approach for each region, focused on protecting the public and reforming the police. Esp
The Mexican government has shown remarkable inertia since the apparent police abduction and subsequent gang murder of students in Guerrero. Now it hopes capital will not prove a coward as it denationalises oil reserves.
Students shot dead by police, others “disappeared”, mass graves located … the absence of the rule of law and trampling on human rights in Mexico is sparking widespread protest.
A little-noticed security reform in Mexico threatens a major erosion of liberty by exploiting public fear to introduce a sweeping definition of “terrorism”.
Why is Mexico mired in organised, drug-related murder? In an extreme case of security dilemmas increasingly familiar elsewhere, the state has ceded its monopoly of legitimate force to irregular security companies—and is now considering legitimising vigilante groups.
Last April more than 35,000 people marched in Cuernavaca, Mexico, following the murder of a teenager. Four years into president Felipe Calderón’s diastrous ‘drug war’, the line between remembrance and protest has started to blur. Should the thousands of dead be stigmatised or martyred? Silenced or
The drug war in Mexico has left tens of thousands of people dead and the country in peril. What difference will a new war crimes charge brought against the government make?
Netanyahu meets Obama in midst of Jerusalem settlement row. US-Pakistani talks seek better ties. Amnesty International urges Malaysia to protect migrant workers. Somali pirates seize ships in long-range attacks. US pledges support for Mexico drug war. All this and more in today’s security briefing
