Mexico Under Siege: 2009

After two Mexican federal agents and two others were arrested in July on drug-related charges, little has emerged about the case and residents are puzzled.

Washington releases an additional $99 million as part of an aid package to help security forces in their battle with drug cartels.

Mexico has captured one of the founders of the Gulf drug cartel’s brutal “Zetas” squad of hitmen that is behind much of the country’s bloodshed, the attorney general’s office said Thursday.

The president-elect expresses assurance that U.S. ties with Mexico will grow even stronger.

The Vatican’s No. 2 official, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, calls for a ‘harsh deterrent’ to the drug violence that left more than 5,000 dead last year.

The LaPortes’ search for their son ends when Mexican officials confirm the remains found in Rosarito are of their son Daniel. They also learn that he was apparently smuggling marijuana.

The man arrested in Baja California is said to have dissolved hundreds of bodies as part of Tijuana’s drug turf war.

Two recent U.S. reports paint a dire picture of Mexico as its battle against drug crime grows more bloody, but Mexican officials say that though some cities are in trouble, the state itself is strong.

According to news reports, trafficking chiefs in the state of Sinaloa agreed last month to curb their bloody rivalry. Killings there have declined sharply.

Closed-door, written trials give way to U.S.-style proceedings in Chihuahua. The overhaul could help fight corruption and organized crime, analysts say.

Santiago Meza Lopez, known as El Pozolero (the Stew Maker), says he stuffed bodies into barrels of lye for drug cartels. He may be a good source of information about missing loved ones.

Juan Francisco Perez-Torres was abducted last month in front of his home and ransom demanded. Hundreds of such incidents occur each year in Phoenix, and Mexican drug-smuggling is usually involved.

Gunmen hit the homes of Carlos Reyes Lopez and extended family; a 2-year-old nephew and five other children are among the dead. Reyes Lopez was a member of an elite force.

Tiny Columbus, N.M., a haven for baby boomer retirees seeking cheap living, small-town values and solitude, can’t quite believe that a bloody brawl has broken out on its doorstep.

Posted signs say a policeman would be killed every 48 hours unless Roberto Orduña Cruz resigned.

Gov. Jose Reyes Baeza Terrazas says gunmen who fired on his convoy weren’t aiming at him.

In the state of Zacatecas, residents of Villanueva demanded that the military take over. The soldiers came, but drug war violence got worse.

The increase would triple the law enforcement presence in the border city, which has been racked by drug violence. Its police chief quit recently and its mayor has received threats.

The killing of a newly-hired security official and two others raises questions about the drug trade’s impact on the popular resort, especially with suspicions falling on the ex-police chief.

The government is deploying 1,000 more federal police officers as part of a wider effort to restore order in the nation’s most violent city. Thousands of soldiers are also being sent.

The Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has taken the unusual step of urging college students to avoid parts of northern Mexico during spring break.

Business owners, law enforcement officers, journalists and other professionals are among those seeking asylum in the U.S. -- even when it means sitting in jail.

It takes security forces nearly three hours to contain the unrest among members of three gangs. All of the dead are gang members, authorities say.

Mexico’s rampant drug violence has put the issue of safety front and center for would-be vacationers, and put the country’s publicity-sensitive tourism promoters on the defensive.

A former Chula Vista resident is identified as one of three men who were found decapitated this week in Tijuana.

U.S. tourists who enjoy escaping to this seaside city are continuing to do so despite the recent travel warnings. ‘Drug people are fighting the drug people,’ goes the thinking.

In a major army-led operation, a top crime boss’ alleged lieutenant is caught, and 8 state police agents are among those arrested and accused of links to organized crime.

As traffickers recruit among the poor, their networks are being woven into the social fabric of the country.

Narcotics traffickers are acquiring firepower more appropriate to an army -- including grenade launchers and antitank rockets -- and the police are feeling outgunned.

The arrest of Vicente Zambada, son of Ismael Zambada, deals a significant blow to drug traffickers, officials say. He allegedly oversaw operations, logistics and security for the Sinaloa cartel.

On the streets, drug gangs are fighting a war. But inside a modest cafe, the drama is make-believe and accompanied by sweet music.

Since President Calderon’s deployment of troops in the war against drug trafficking, allegations of illegal searches and arrests, rape and torture have risen, rights groups say.

Exploitation of illegal immigrants has become worse, officials say, and the failure of U.S. agencies to work together has hindered efforts to stop the organizations.

The rewards are for information leading to the capture of the 24 most-wanted, including Joaquin ‘Shorty’ Guzman and Ismael Zambada, leaders of the so-called Sinaloa cartel.

Police arrest 48 suspects, members of a Oaxacan Indian clan, who allegedly brought the drugs in from Mexico, selling 15 to 20 pounds a week to gangs in East Los Angeles.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, on a two-day visit to Mexico, accepts that the U.S. market for narcotics and a cross-border trade in U.S. guns contribute to Mexico’s drug violence.

In a hearing in El Paso, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is told that U.S. troops are not necessary. Experts support more aid to Mexico to combat drug cartels.

The secretary of Homeland Security says an additional 24 agents will work to intercept Mexico-bound vehicles carrying weapons and drug profits.

Vicente Carrillo Leyva, son of the late kingpin Amado Carrillo Fuentes, is arrested in Mexico City.

Mayors say they are the ones personally confronting the toll of drug violence on the streets. Yet they lack any meaningful role in the federal government’s battle against organized crime.

Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mugica is held up as a model in the army effort to stem drug violence and take on the cartels. He says there’s nothing personal in his hunt for one of Mexico’s most wanted.

In one case, Archbishop Hector Gonzalez calls attention to a drug trafficker in his neighborhood and accuses the government of ignoring the situation. The prelate later apologizes for his comments.

The bold assaults by heavily armed gunmen are said to have been aimed at intimidating the force.

Report lists 17 allegations of serious human rights abuse by the Mexican army, including torture and murder.

Authorities say Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman, the reputed leader of the Mexican cartel, has given his associates the OK, if necessary, to open fire across the border.

The museum, which is used to educate soldiers and is closed to the public, offers powerful testimony to the inventiveness and huge resources that traffickers continue bringing to the fight.

New fencing and high-tech devices make it difficult for drug traffickers to cross the border. So smugglers hoist packs and take to the desert on foot. Agents use century-old tracking skills to follow.

The bodies of two men and two women, bearing ‘signs of violence,’ were found over the weekend in a car. The circumstances are being investigated.

The prison warden and two top guards are arrested in Zacatecas after suspected drug cartel men in a 17-car convoy, backed by a helicopter, entered the facility and freed 53 inmates.

Rodolfo Lopez Ibarra and 12 other people with him are seized by soldiers when he steps from a plane in Monterrey, where he allegedly was assigned to take over cartel operations.

Reforma newspaper shows surveillance video of Zacatecas prison where drug suspects escaped.

Senator Ricardo Monreal of Zacatecas steps down temporarily to clear his name after an official acknowledges an investigation into a family property where tons of marijuana was found.

The sweep targets local officials in the state of Michoacan, home to La Familia, a fast-growing group of drug traffickers.

Calderon had been focused on a military offensive targeting drug figures and corrupt police. Now officials are being questioned to see how far the cartels have penetrated ‘local political elites.’

The cult-like La Familia Michoacana has contaminated city halls across one state, federal officials say. It sometimes decides who runs and who doesn’t, who lives and who dies.

Mexican drug gangs under pressure at home are moving operations to Guatemala, whose proximity, weak law enforcement and deep-rooted corruption provide fertile ground, officials and analysts say.

The hours-long battle that killed two soldiers and 16 gunmen took place several miles from the main strip of tourist complexes.

The suspect was spotted paddling north about 200 yards off Imperial Beach, near the Mexican border. Agents went into the water to make the arrest.

A report says the U.S. failure to curb smuggling has strengthened drug cartels.

An agreement is reached to limit drug trafficking at the U.S.-Mexico border, a move intended to end the turf war between the Drug Enforcement Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

President Calderon is set to sign the law, but some fear that letting off users caught with limited amounts of drugs will increase drug use and encourage ‘drug tourists’ from the U.S.

Mexico’s crackdown puts the squeeze on cocaine dealers in British Columbia. Up here, as the violence grows, bodies pile up.

The LAPD is investigating whether a shooting on the 101 Freeway near downtown in December may have stemmed from an Arellano Felix drug rivalry. The luxury car was riddled with bullets.

The 2 1/2-year offensive has uncovered deep corruption and sparked violent gang wars, presenting a stark reality: The longer and harder the war is fought, the more complex and daunting it becomes.

Eleven men and one woman were found tortured and fatally shot Monday in Michoacan state. The drug cartel La Familia is blamed for the attack and several others in recent days.

Congressman-elect Julio Cesar Godoy is suspected of helping protect La Familia, accused of killing 16 officers recently. That has brought pressure on his half-brother, Michoacan Gov. Leonel Godoy.

Mexico is to deploy 5,500 security personnel to the western state of Michoacan, where a series of recent attacks has killed 16 police officers. The La Familia drug gang is suspected in the slayings.

Tighter border enforcement has driven narcotics smugglers to share territory with migrants, adding to the dangers of the journey and possibly contributing to a drop in Mexico’s emigration.

Among those on the list is the ‘triumvirate’ of the drug trafficking enterprise and its enforcement arm, the Zetas. They are accused of funneling cocaine and marijuana from South America into Texas.

An investigator and a commander and his family are killed at their homes as Mexico’s drug trafficking crackdown continues.

In a spillover of Tijuana violence, Mexican gang members posing as U.S. law enforcement personnel abducted and killed 9 victims.

A drug war is raging, but the Mexican attorney general points to statistics that indicate homicides have declined nationwide in the last 15 years. Critics dismiss his argument as so much spin.

Four gunmen leap from a pickup truck and fire semiautomatic weapons at revelers in the town of Navolato in Sinaloa state. The shooters escape.

The shooting in the violent border city points at Mexico’s growing domestic drug market and abuse problem.

Mexicali seems an oasis from violence, but some U.S. officials suspect that the peace comes at a high price.

One ‘Bulletproof Lawyer’ survived four assassination attempts before being gunned down. Such unsolved killings highlight the violence within a judicial system manipulated by powerful drug cartels.

The mutilated corpses of nine people were found in plastic bags in the bed of a pickup the southern Mexico state of Guerrero, authorities say. The area is known for its drug trafficking.

Between mansions for the living and mausoleums for the dead, there is work to be had in the Sinaloa capital for painter and sculptor Jose Espinoza, who says of his patrons: ‘I don’t probe.’

Average words aren’t sufficient for the over-the-top violence of Mexico’s drug war, so new ones have been invented.

Los Tigres del Norte is initially barred from playing its latest drug-trade lyrics.

Reversing police corruption that has tainted whole departments, shattered faith in law enforcement and compromised one of society’s most basic institutions is proving difficult, but not impossible.

The new infrastructure -- including gates, cameras and vehicle scales -- aims to hamper the smuggling of drug money and weapons to Mexican cartels. Businesses are protesting the increased wait times.

Amnesty International, citing cases of alleged slayings by the military in the drug war, criticizes civilian officials, saying they fail to properly investigate or prosecute crimes by the army.

Images of Arturo Beltran Leyva’s corpse covered with blood-stained peso notes and jewelry raise concerns that law enforcement is adopting the tactics of hit men. An inquiry is underway.