Drugs & Narcotráfico

Omar García Harfuch has won unprecedented popularity, bordering on adulation, for his apparent success in tackling organized crime and the drug cartels, especially in Sinaloa. Thwarted (by gender quota) in his run for mayor of Mexico City, he remains the most visible figure in the government after Claudia Sheinbaum, and could well run for president in 2030.

Noboa’s government must now prosecute a war on drugs without additional powers ‘The government tried to manipulate the Ecuadorian people by claiming that the presence...

The massacre of more than 100 people in Rio's favelas is an attempt by right-wing governor Claudio Castro to court popularity and revive the fortunes of the far right as they look for a successor to Jair Bolsonaro. It is at once a nod to Trump's military interventionism and a challenge to Lula.

In a country with one of the highest rates of murder of journalists, content-creators and influencers are also becoming targets, especially if they criticise the bosses of organized crime.

In the run-up to Ecuador’s presidential elections on 13 April 2025, the two leading candidates, Daniel Noboa of the Acción Democrática Nacional (AND), and...

The discovery of a pile of shoes and a ditch containing human remains at a farm in Jalisco state suggests that this was an extermination camp operated by the drug cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación. The government of Claudi Sheinbaum is trying to evade responsibility, blaming the authorities in Jalisco and trumpeting its progress in reducing the murder rate. Meanwhile, disappearances have escalated.

LAB council member Elva Narcía Cancino reports from Chiapas, Mexico, where Zapatista indigenous women meet for a training day for Resistance and Rebellion -- against the background of rising levels of violence fueled by drug trafficking gangs and a government which has been ineffectual at best.

LAB caught up with Frente Amplio leader Fernando Pereira and his vice-president to find out how they propose to address the challenges the new government will face like the rise of the far-right, organised crime, and persistent poverty and marginalisation.

Increasing violence and instability are driving refugees and some Ecuadorians towards risky migration

Notably, deep-rooted inequalities and a weak state have allowed a destabilising narcotics economy to flourish across Latin America, argues Andrew Nickson Relying on the export of primary products has reinforced inequality