Mexico: CIA escalates secret war on cartels

Earlier this spring, a mysterious explosion blew up a car carrying an alleged cartel operative in broad daylight on one of Mexico’s busiest highways just outside of its capital city. Francisco Beltran was killed instantly along with his driver, their Read More …

New York: Governor of Sinaloa and nine other officials charged with drug trafficking and weapons offenses

The Defendants Allegedly Conspired With Leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel to Import Massive Quantities of Narcotics Into the United States in Exchange for Political Support and Bribes. United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and Read More …

Mexico: Two CIA officers and two Mexican investigators killed in car crash after counter-narcotics operation in Chihuahua

Two U.S. officials killed in a vehicle crash as they returned from destroying a clandestine drug lab in a rugged region of Mexico over the weekend were working for the CIA, according to a U.S. official and two other people Read More …

Mexico, a country without drug lords

When the Mexican Navy killed Heriberto Lazcano, the leader of the fearsome Los Zetas cartel who pioneered narco-terrorism in Mexico, in 2012, El Mencho was just beginning to emerge. He had helped weaken that group of elite ex-military personnel and Read More …

Mexico: State Attorney General’s Office attacked with drone in Buenavista

The attacks of organized crime against institutions do not cease. During the early hours of this Monday, the offices of the State Attorney General’s Office in Buenavista were attacked. According to the data collected by the authorities, a drone was Read More …

Mexico: Leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel killed in security operation

The Mexican military killed Rubén Nemesio Oseguera, alias “El Mencho,” the most wanted and dangerous drug trafficker in the world, this weekend in the state of Jalisco, in central Mexico, according to official sources who confirmed the information to EL Read More …

Mexico: In 1 year, Michoacán authorities deactivated more than 1,600 improvised explosive devices

The number of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) located, seized and deactivated by state authorities in Michoacán more than doubled last year, indicating that criminal groups’ use of the makeshift bombs is becoming more prevalent. According to data from the Michoacán Read More …

Mexico: Car bomb targeting community police station kills 6 in Michoacán

The explosion of a car bomb outside a community police station in the town of Coahuayana, Michoacán, on Saturday killed six people, including at least three police officers. Michoacán Attorney General Carlos Torres Piña reported on Sunday that the death Read More …

US military strikes 4 boats in the Pacific, killing 14, in ramp-up of campaign against alleged drug trafficking

The US military conducted strikes against four more boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Monday, killing 14 people on board the vessels, with one survivor, according to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. It marked the first time multiple strikes Read More …

Mexico: Gulf Cartel gunman caught near Texas border with explosives, drones, and IEDs

Authorities in Mexico arrested a suspected member of the Gulf Cartel who had 151 drone explosives, 18 drones, three IEDs, and various other weapons. The seizure also included state-of-the-art anti-drone weapons. The arrest took place in the border city of Read More …

Mexico has no evidence linking Venezuela’s Maduro to drug cartel

The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, has denied that her government has any evidence linking Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro to the Sinaloa Cartel, a criminal network based in her country. Sheinbaum’s statements on Friday were prompted by an announcement one Read More …

Mexican cartels using Ukrainian frontline to learn more about drone warfare

Mexican cartel operatives are understood to have joined Ukraine’s frontline so that they can learn advanced drone training to deploy against rivals and US security forces back in their homeland. Ukraine’s counterintelligence service confirmed it was currently investigating the potential Read More …

Mexico: Former Jalisco cartel member details use of explosive drones by elite unit ‘Fuerzas Especiales Mencho’

In a recent interview, a former member of the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) described the recruitment and training process, as well as the operations within one of the cartel’s elite units that serves Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, also known as Read More …

Mexico: Criminal groups are using drone bombings to displace indigenous communities in Northwest

In recent months, more than a dozen Indigenous communities in northwest Mexico have been violently displaced from their lands by criminal organizations. Drawn by the promise of gold and other valuable minerals, these groups have escalated their tactics—using drones armed Read More …

Chemists develop contactless system to detect Fentanyl, explosives and other harmful substances

A system that detects trace levels of fentanyl, cocaine, explosives and other harmful substances through the air has been created by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. New test results of a device based on the Read More …

Illicit Innovation: Latin America Is Not Prepared to Fight Criminal Drones

The scene is by now all too familiar for those acquainted with coverage of modern war. A bird’s-eye view frames two figures ambling about below, then charts the path of an improvised explosive charge as it tumbles down, impacting with Read More …

Mexico: Four cartel suspects killed during chase in the municipality of Frontera Comalapa days after ambush killed 5 officers in same area

Police in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas and federal forces killed four suspected criminals on Sunday during a chase in an area bordering Guatemala, the local government said. The incident unfolded just days after five police officers were killed Read More …

Mexican Cartel Tactical Note #53: Recent Improvised Landmine attacks in Michoacán and Jalisco

On 27 May 2025, eight Guardia Nacional (GN) personnel assigned to the Fuerza de reacción inmediata (FERI), an immediate reaction special force team, were killed when their armored vehicle ran over an artisanal landmine, in Los Reyes, Michoacán. The officials Read More …

Mexico arrests 10 Colombian ex-soldiers after deadly blast

Ten Colombian former soldiers were among the suspects arrested after an improvised landmine killed six Mexican troops in a drug cartel heartland this week, authorities said Friday. More than 40 explosive devices were seized along with other weapons in the Read More …

Mexico: Cartels are recruiting artisans to manufacture explosives, 3,454 devices seized in Michoacán alone

Criminal groups in Michoacán are recruiting local pyrotechnic artisans to manufacture improvised explosive devices (IEDs), often under threat, according to federal and state authorities. Carlos Roberto Gómez Ruiz, deputy director of the Explosives and Hazardous Materials Unit of the Michoacán Read More …