Central America | featured news

Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared three days of mourning Friday for the 52 victims of a casino fire set by presumed drug traffickers, branding the attackers "true terrorists" and ordering authorities to offer a $2.4 million reward for their capture.

Of all the strange circumstances surrounding the violent abduction last year of Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, the Mexican power broker and former presidential candidate known here as “Boss Diego,” perhaps nothing was weirder than the mysterious tracking chip the kidnappers allegedly cut from his body.

The number of homicides in Mexico rose by nearly a quarter in 2010 as the drug war intensified across the country.

It’s not the subplot to a Jerry Bruckheimer movie: drug dealers in Mexico really are kidnapping computer whizzes and forcing them to hack into bank systems and program credit card fraud scams in order to acquire additional funds on top of what they haul in from selling drugs.

Mexican rescuers were scouring the Gulf of California on Tuesday for seven U.S. tourists whose fishing boat capsized two days ago, saying they were extending their search because the missing tourists could still be alive in the warm, calm waters....

Three governors are elected in voting Sunday, and PRI hopes electoral victories will strengthen its bid to retake the presidency. Millions of Mexicans voted Sunday to elect governors in three states, but the real focus was on Mexico's presidential race next year.

Police say they have arrested 25 drug cartel members or collaborators in central Mexico, including a police chief, two commanding officers and seven agents suspected of aiding traffickers.

While an estimated 10,000 women are victims of human trafficking in Mexico's capital, there were only 40 investigations of the crime and three convictions in the city last year, according to a report issued this week.

Mexican authorities said they found and detained more than 500 illegal immigrants from Central America and Asia who were crammed inside two tractor-trailers heading toward the United States on Tuesday.

Mexico is the largest market for erectile dysfunction in the developing world, with about $200 million in sales every year.