Profits from illegal mining in Peru are higher than those of cocaine trafficking, according to a consulting firm. In some ways, however, this is a sensationalist comparison, intended more to attract attention than to accurately describe the problem.
Gunmen, claiming they were seeking to oust the Colombian drug cartel of the Rastrojos, carried out an attack in a Venezuelan border state, another sign that the war between the Rastrojos and their rivals has spilled over the border.
President Otto Perez praised an 18 percent drop in Guatemala's homicides, a figure that doesn't square with the statistics released by the police. But the overall trend is clear: the murder rate is inching downwards.
In one of Venezuela's most violent and overcrowded prisons, the underground economy reportedly brings in some $3.7 million a year, helping to explain why inmates reacted with such fury when the government moved to shut the place down.
A new poll found that just 21 percent of Mexican voters say that the government's anti-crime strategy is working, a sign that Felipe Calderon's administration has failed to clearly articulate its security strategy to the public.
In an interview with a Colombian radio station, paramilitary warlord Salvatore Mancuso said that he had personally met with ex-President Alvaro Uribe, but declined to give further details. The question now is whether Mancuso's version of the truth can be corroborated.
A former top police official, jailed for alleged ties to drug traffickers, was reportedly tortured in prison. This could be linked to the ex-cop's feud with one of the most powerful men in the government: Security Minister Genaro Garcia Luna.
United States authorities announced the arrest of 28 people involved in a trafficking ring that smuggled cocaine from Honduras into the country, a rare case of a US-based Honduran drug ring with a transnational connection.
The US Border Patrol's new strategy employs a radical change of thinking, measuring success in terms of the agency's ability to prioritize and react to the most serious security risks, instead of stressing territorial control. But there are other ways they can think outside the box.
A retired military officer who acted as the prison system director for the Coahuila penitentiary was killed by armed gunmen Tuesday, drawing attention to the threats facing prison staff across the country.
