Susana Seijas chronicles the Mexican government's history with certain notorious narcotics traffickers.

Listen to  Shannon K. O'Neil, CFR's Douglas Dillon fellow for Latin America studies, discuss Latin America policy in the Obama administration with students as part of CFR's Academic Conference Call Series.

Learn more about CFR's Academic Initiative.

This article about La Familia, A Mexican syndicate and how it operates.

Julia E. Sweig explains that U.S, relations with Latin America will be drastically different. She argues that the Obama administration "must endeavor to see the hemisphere as it is and not through the lazy filters of "best-friendism," wishful thinking or demonization."

Forget Iran, Iraq, and North Korea--Bush's "Axis of Evil." As economic calamity meets political and social turmoil, the world's worst problems may come from countries like Somalia, Russia, and Mexico. And they're just the beginning, says Niall Ferguson.

Watch former Mexican health minister Julio Frenk Mora discuss his recommendations on how best to manage public health programs during the global financial crisis, including changes to health insurance policies.

Listen to former Mexican health minister Julio Frenk Mora discuss his recommendations on how best to manage public health programs during the global financial crisis, including changes to health insurance policies.

Edward Alden writes that the quest for perfectly secure borders premised on plugging vulnerabilities poses special, and possibly insurmountable, problems. The United States needs some way to distinguish serious threats from minor ones, and to calculate the costs of trying to counter those threats.

Brazen assassinations, kidnappings, and political intimidation by drug lords conjure up images of Colombia in the early 1990s. Yet today it is Mexico that is being engulfed by escalating violence, and U.S. gun laws, immigration rules, drug control and border policies all have exacerbated the problems.

Barry R. McCaffrey, President, BR McCaffrey Associates LLC; Adjunct Professor of International Affairs, United States Military Academy; Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy (1996-2001), and Shannon K. O'Neil, Douglas Dillon Fellow for Latin America Studies, Council on Foreign Relations discuss President Obama's US foreign policy with repect to its relations with Mexico.

Watch experts discuss U.S.-Mexico relations under the Obama administration, including ways to mitigate drug violence and improve immigration policy.

Listen to experts discuss U.S.-Mexico relations under the Obama administration, including ways to mitigate drug violence and improve immigration policy.

Jesus Rios and July Ray find that more Mexicans perceive gangs and drug trafficking in their neighborhoods.

Shannon K. O'Neil discusses America's influential role in the war on drugs.

Shannon O'Neil writes that "Mexico has a chance to shape the international agenda. It is an opportunity Calderón should not waste."

Mexico is struggling with a surge in drug-related violence, declining oil revenues, and an economy under strain. Some experts point to a looming security problem for the United States.