Poppy production in Mexico is overtaking marijuana as the top illicit crop grown in the Latin American nation, according to a new report released by the Mexican government.

Mexican authorities last year eradicated 40 percent more poppy plants than it did marijuana plants, the Mexican defense ministry reported.

Opium and heroin are both derived from poppy and the use of these narcotics has risen in the United States, the largest market for drugs coming from Mexico. While the Mexican cartels provide only 7 percent of the world’s heroin, it is a key supplier of the narcotics flowing into the U.S.

The numbers are a significant change from 2007, when the area with marijuana crops destroyed by Mexican troops was about 50 percent greater than that of poppy – about — 22,965 hectares compared to 11,393 hectares. The gap, however, quickly began to narrow in 2008 and 2009, with a shift occurring last year, ... Read More

BY RORY CARROLL

For three years it has chronicled Mexico‘s drug war with graphic images and shocking stories that few others dare show, drawing millions of readers, acclaim, denunciations – and speculation about its author’s identity.

Blog del Narco, an internet sensation dubbed a “front-row seat” to Mexico’s agony over drugs, has become a must-read for authorities, drug gangs and ordinary people because it lays bare, day after day, the horrific violence censored by the mainstream media.

The anonymous author has been a source of mystery, with Mexico wondering who he is and his motivation for such risky reporting.

Now in their first major interview since launching the blog, the author has spoken to the Guardian and the Texas Observer – and has revealed that she is, in fact, a young woman.

“I don’t think people ever imagined it was a woman doing this,” said the blogger, who asked to use pseudonym Lucy to protect her real identity.

“Who am ... Read More

BY JOHN MULHOLLAND

In any war there are innocent victims. In the 40-year war on drugs, the central American state of Guatemala can lay claim to being just such an innocent casualty. It has been caught in the crossfire between the nations to the south (principally Peru, Colombia and Bolivia) that produce illegal narcotics and the country to the north (America) that has the largest appetite to consume them. Guatemala does little of either.

The problem is that the drugs – principally cocaine – have to be transported from the producing countries to the US, from the south to the north. Unfortunately for Guatemala, it’s in the way.

But Guatemala’s location at the tip of Central America did not always present a problem. As recently as 2008 the US National Drug Intelligence Centre estimated that less than 1% of the estimated 700 tonnes of cocaine that left South America passed through Central America. But that ... Read More

BY ANDRES SCHIPANI

BOGOTA, Colombia — Ever since the Spanish conquest, the Aymara and Quechua Indians of modern Bolivia have been a shadow majority. Banished to the margins of society, they have found relief from toiling in fields for a pittance by chewing an oval-shaped green leaf: coca, cocaine’s raw material, which is a mild stimulant in its unprocessed form.

“Coca is our culture, our food, our medicine. Coca is our life,” said Honorata Diaz, a farmer from El Chapare, one of two Bolivian regions where monitored coca leaf cultivation is legal, albeit under restricted conditions.

For years, producers of the ancient crop, such as Diaz, had fought stubbornly against forcible eradication in endless confrontations with army troops and U.S.-trained anti-drug officials. Now, finally, they have a reason to celebrate. Last week, Bolivia was readmitted to the U.N. anti-narcotics convention with a special dispensation that local coca use is legal.

“This is a historic triumph for ... Read More

BY KATHERINE CORCORAN

Newly elected President Enrique Pena Nieto says he will continue combatting all illegal drug production and trafficking in Mexico, including marijuana, despite its legalization in two U.S. states and liberalized use for medical purposes in others.

In an interview with The Associated Press late Monday on goals for his new administration, Pena Nieto was asked if votes to legalize recreational use of marijuana in Washington state and Colorado would make him rethink Mexico’s drug-war policy.

“The short answer is no,” said Pena Nieto, who added that he remains personally opposed to legalization. “My government will continue mounting a real fight against the trafficking of marijuana and all other drugs.”

He has proposed focusing on reducing violence in Mexico rather than capturing top drug lords, a change from his predecessor, Felipe Calderon. Many have viewed that as a signal that as long as drug gangs don’t attack civilians, they would be left ... Read More

BY ALFREDO CORCHADO

MEXICO CITY — When President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto visits President Barack Obama at the White House on Tuesday, the two will begin the process of building trust at a critical time, with their two countries facing dicey issues including border security, immigration reform and even the legalization of marijuana, analysts say.

The top question going into their first meeting is whether the two countries will continue to move closer, particularly through cooperation on security, a process begun 12 years ago with the election of President Vicente Fox, who unseated the long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and continued with his successor, Felipe Calderón, analysts say.

“This will be a chance to start a more personal relationship between both presidents while beginning to rebrand and put a new stamp on the relationship,” said Eric Olson, a Mexico expert at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a Washington think tank. “What that new stamp ... Read More

The message to the US from Latin America is simple: Practice what you preach.

Mexican President Felipe Calderón says the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in two U.S. states limits that country’s ‘‘moral authority’’ to ask other nations to combat or restrict illegal drug trafficking.

Calderón says the legalization of marijuana in Washington and Colorado represents a fundamental change that requires the rethinking of public policy in the entire Western Hemisphere.

Calderón spoke in an interview with the newspaper Milenio that was published Tuesday.

Calderón was joined on Monday by leaders of Belize, Honduras and Costa Rica in calling for the Organization of American States to study the impact of the new laws and saying the United Nations’ General Assembly should hold a special session on the prohibition of drugs by 2015 at the latest.

The president will end his term in office on December 1st. Calderón has been one of the most vocal ... Read More

BY TRACY WILKINSON

MEXICO CITY — An alleged local commander of the Zetas paramilitary cartel in the troubled border state of Coahuila has been captured, the Mexican navy announced Thursday, expressing hope that he might lead authorities to the notorious group’s remaining top leader.

Said Omar Juarez was taken into custody on a prominent street in Saltillo, Coahuila’s capital, the navy said in a statement released as the suspect was presented to reporters in Mexico City. In his possession were weapons and packages containing what may be cocaine and marijuana, the statement said.

Juarez was described by the navy as the Zeta operative in charge of Saltillo, who “presumably” has direct ties to Miguel Angel Treviño, the Zetas’ top leader. Treviño emerged as the undisputed Zetas capo after Heriberto Lazcano was killed in a shootout with navy special forces last month.

Coahuila, which borders Texas and is Mexico’s third-largest state, has recently been the subject of increased ... Read More

BY WILLIAM BOOTH

MEXICO CITY — The decision by voters in Colorado and Washington state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana has left Mexican President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto and his team scrambling to reformulate their anti-drug strategies in light of what one senior aide said was a referendum that “changes the rules of the game.”

It is too early to know what Mexico’s response to the successful ballot measures will be, but a top aide said Peña Nieto and members of his incoming administration will discuss the issue with President Obama and congressional leaders in Washington this month. The legalization votes, however, are expected to spark a broad debate in Mexico about the direction and costs of the U.S.-backed drug war here.

Mexico spends billions of dollars each year confronting violent trafficking organizations that threaten the security of the country but whose main market is the United States, the largest consumer of ... Read More

BY MIMI WHITEFIELD & TIM JOHNSON

MEXICO CITY – There’s agreement across the region that Latin America wasn’t a priority during the first term of President Barack Obama but analysts say there are issues that might raise the profile of Latin America and the Caribbean during the president’s second term.

Among them: trade, potential political change in the region, the potent voting bloc U.S. Hispanics have become, immigration, changing U.S. attitudes toward drug policy and security.

But, in general, regional expectations for meaningful change in U.S. Latin American and Caribbean policy during Obama’s second term were muted.

The campaigns of both Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney “proved that Latin America is not a priority for the United States,’’ said Simon Pachano, a political science professor at the Latin American Faculty for Social Sciences in Ecuador. “Latin America existed when they were looking for Hispanic votes, but it wasn’t present in their foreign policy proposals.”

Anthony ... Read More

BY E. EDUARDO CASTILLO & MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN

MEXICO CITY — The legalization of recreational marijuana in the U.S. states of Washington and Colorado will force Mexico to rethink its efforts to halt marijuana smuggling across the border, the main adviser to Mexico’s president-elect said Wednesday.

Luis Videgaray, head of incoming President Enrique Pena Nieto‘s transition team, told Radio Formula that the Mexican administration taking power in three weeks remains opposed to drug legalization. But he said the votes in the two states complicate his country’s commitment to quashing the growing and smuggling of a plant now seen by many as legal in part of the U.S.

“Obviously we can’t handle a product that is illegal in Mexico, trying to stop its transfer to the United States, when in the United States, at least in part of the United States, it now has a different status,” Videgaray said. “I believe this obliges us to think the ... Read More

BY JIM WYSS

BOGOTA – There’s a running joke in Latin America that the region should be allowed to vote for the U.S. president because the outcome matters so much here.

But with less than two weeks to go before the election, the region is feeling left out of the race. With Pres. Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney focused on the U.S. economy and troubles in the Middle East, Latin America is getting short shrift on the campaign trail.

The final presidential debate this week on foreign policy, only underscored the point as Latin America was barely mentioned and both candidates seemed to try to answer every foreign policy question with a reference to the U.S. economy, said Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue.

“The foreign policy debate turned into a discussion about nation building in the United States — not nation building in Colombia or even Afghanistan,” he said.

Just a few years ago, ... Read More

BY TOMAS SARMIENTO & MIGUEL GUTIERREZ

MEXICO CITY- Mexico’s Congress on Thursday approved a long-awaited law to crack down on money laundering in a bid to attack the finances of the country’s powerful drug cartels.

The law, proposed two years ago by outgoing President Felipe Calderon as part of his offensive against drug gangs, was passed by the Senate on Thursday. The lower house passed it earlier this year.

The new federal law puts restrictions on cash purchases of real estate, jewelry, armored cars and other assets that criminals use to launder illicit funds.

Companies will be required to report large cash purchases under the law. Car sales of more than 200,000 pesos (about $16,000) and real estate purchases of more than 500,000 pesos (about $39,000) must be reported.

The bill carries a minimum penalty of five years in prison.

“There is an outcry from society to weaken the financial structures of organized crime and that ... Read More

Drug enforcement agents seized more than 12 tons of cocaine and marijuana in Colombia during a three-day multi-faceted operation in several regions, officials said Sunday.

Almost 42 tons of controlled chemical products were also seized in the anti-drug campaign, which was launched by the National Police’s drug enforcement unit in six provinces.

The results of the offensive were presented to the press by the head of the drug enforcement unit, Gen. Luis Alberto Perez, in Riohacha, the capital of La Guajira province, where he traveled for an operation in which his personnel seized 1,825 kilos of cocaine.

The cocaine was being transported in a truck, but the occupants fled after exchanging gunfire with police on a road near Dibulla, a town on the country’s Caribbean coast through which the drug was to have been shipped to Central America with the ultimate destination of the United States.

The shipment belonged to Los Urabeños, one of ... Read More

BY WILLIAM BOOTH

MEXICO CITY — A report by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to be released Thursday concludes that Mexico’s deployment of its military to fight organized crime has been ineffective and may have increased sensational killings by fragmenting crime mafias into warring bands.

The report was written to help guide the U.S. Congress in its strategic partnership with Mexico’s president-elect, Enrique Peña Nieto, who has suggested that his administration will focus more on reducing the violence that has left 60,000 dead, rather than capturing or killing crime lords and seizing the cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana headed to the United States, the most voracious drug consumer in the world.

The report acknowledges the efforts of departing President Felipe Calderon and sees progress in the maturing relationship between the U.S. and Mexican governments, even as it questions Calderon’s core strategies.

Overall, the report offers ... Read More

BY DAVID LUHNOW

MEXICO CITY—Violence from Mexico’s drug war is slowing, the country’s president said, after years of steadily growing carnage that has traumatized its society, hurt the economy and damaged the nation’s international standing.

Mexico’s drug-related murders fell about 12% during the first five months of this year, President Felipe Calderón said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal this week. That marks the first decline in violence in at least eight years.

The president, whose term ends later this year, said Mexico was making real progress in the fight against organized crime, and that his eventual successor, elected in a July 1 presidential vote, should continue efforts to build honest cops and a working judicial system.

“Our strategy is in place, it is working. Violence is coming down, although we obviously can’t claim victory yet,” said Mr. Calderón, who ... Read More

Porfirio Lobo Sosa made a plea Saturday for the United States to cut its drug use because doing so would reduce the level of criminal activity in Central America.  He said the US must reduce its demand for drugs to zero because Honduras cannot change its geographic position.  He claims that a State Department document says that 79% of the cocaine that transits Mexico from South America is destined for the United States.

On the surface, at least, Lobo Sosa’s argument seems logical, but is it supported by data on increasing drug use in the United States that could be correlated with the increasing criminal activity in Honduras?

Oh that it were so simple.  Lobo Sosa is dead wrong.

When we talk about drug trafficking in Honduras, we are, these days, talking about cocaine.  Cocaine is by far the most common drug to be seized in Honduras.

To support Porfirio Lobo Sosa’s claims we would ... Read More

BY JUAN FORERO

BOGOTA, Colombia — When President Obama arrives in Colombia for a hemispheric summit this weekend, he will hear Latin American leaders say that the U.S.-orchestrated war on drugs, which criminalizes drug use and employs military tactics to fight gangs, is failing and that sweeping changes need to be considered.

Latin American leaders say they have not developed an alternative model to the hard-line approach favored by successive American administrations since Richard Nixon was in office. But the Colombian government says a range of options — from decriminalizing possession of drugs to legalizing marijuana use to regulating markets — will be debated at the Summit of the Americas in the coastal city of Cartagena.

Faced with violence that has left 50,000 people dead in Mexico and created war zones in Central America, regional leaders have for months been openly discussing the shortcomings of the U.S. approach. But the summit marks the first ... Read More

SAN DIEGO – Former drug kingpin Benjamin Arellano Felix was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison for leading one of the world’s most brutal cartels, a Tijuana-based ring that raised Mexico’s drug violence to a new level and tried to hide the bloodshed by dissolving bodies in drums of chemicals or burning them in the desert.

Saying he was limited by a plea deal that set 25 years as the maximum, U.S. District Judge Larry Burns told the court the 58-year-old drug lord deserved a life sentence for harming the U.S. and Mexico in a “profound” way with the bloodshed he unleashed and the hundreds of tons of cocaine and marijuana he is believed to have smuggled to America.

Burns noted that those who followed Arellano Felix’s orders are serving much longer sentences.

“If I had it within my power, I would impose a longer sentence,” Burns told Arellano Felix.

Arellano Felix and ... Read More

BY COLBY MARTIN

Colombian security forces attacked a camp belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on March 26 in Vistahermosa, Meta department, killing 36 members of the guerrilla group and capturing three. The operation, which Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said resulted in the deaths of more FARC members than any other single strike in the 50-year-long conflict between the Colombian government and Marxist guerrilla groups, came shortly after a similar action in Arauca state in which 33 FARC members were killed and 12 were captured.

The operations were launched as part of an aggressive new Colombian counterinsurgency strategy dubbed Operation Espada de Honor (“Sword of Honor”), created in response to the increasing violent activity by the country’s guerrilla groups. The plan expands the list of targets for security forces and the locations where they will engage guerrillas, with the goal of crippling the FARC both militarily and financially.

Espada ... Read More