QUITO, Ecuador — A bomb threat sent an anti-explosives unit scrambling into a bustling area of Ecuador’s tense capital Thursday while authorities in an eastern city reported a nightclub arson killed two people as the South American country staggers under a spike of violence blamed on drug gangs. Police in the capital, Quito, said they … Read more
GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador — It was a day like any other at the TC Television studio in Ecuador, with its mid-afternoon newscast underway, when masked gunmen burst in, unleashing at least 15 minutes of threats and fear — all broadcast live. First, a man with a pistol appeared in the middle of the public TV station’s … Read more
MEXICO CITY — Three gunmen pulled up to a party early on Friday in northern Mexico and opened fire on partygoers, killing six people and wounding 26 others. Two of the dead were under 18 years old, and five of the wounded were children. Four of the wounded were reported to be in critical condition … Read more
MEXICO CITY — A recent killing spree in the Mexican border city of Tijuana could have been lifted from a TV script: enraged drug lords hunting down corrupt police officers who stole a drug shipment. Two of the officers suspected of the theft have been killed, prosecutors say. But so have at least three other … Read more
Mexican authorities say 11 people are dead following a clash between gunmen from a criminal gang and residents of a small farming community in central Mexico ByThe Associated Press December 8, 2023, 7:02 PM MEXICO CITY — Eleven people were killed in a clash Friday between gunmen from a criminal gang and residents of a … Read more
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s government is pouring resources into detecting what it suggests are “fake” missing people — cases reported by political opponents to embarrass the government, or kidnapped people who return home but don’t notify authorities. Yet officials make no significant effort to find actual missing people, angering the families of Mexico’s estimated 113,000 … Read more
Police in Sao Paulo have discovered what appeared to be a drug mule ring in the western part of the city ByThe Associated Press November 23, 2023, 4:10 PM RIO DE JANEIRO — Police in Sao Paulo on Thursday detained more than 30 individuals belonging to what appeared to be a drug mule ring in … Read more
MEXICO CITY — Bruno Plácido, a well-known leader of a civilian “self-defense” group, was shot to death Tuesday in southern Mexico, eliminating one of the last true chiefs of the country’s armed vigiliante movements that sprang up a decade ago. Vigilante squads in other parts of southern and western Mexico still call themselves “self-defense” groups, … Read more
MEXICO CITY — Banners appeared Monday in northern Mexico purportedly signed by a faction of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel claiming that the gang has sworn off the sale and production of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. But experts quickly cast doubt on the veracity of the claim, saying that fentanyl — which has caused tens of thousands … Read more
A nighttime shooting attack on a hospital in northern Mexico has left four people dead including a doctor ByThe Associated Press September 29, 2023, 2:11 PM MEXICO CITY — A nighttime shooting attack on a hospital in northern Mexico has left four people dead, including a doctor, authorities said Friday. The attack happened near midnight … Read more