NYT: Mexico’s Top Human Rights Official Was Hacked Using Pegasus Spyware
Mexico’s military is reportedly the only group in the country with access to the technology; the official had investigated security forces’ abuses of power in recent years (NYT)
Mexican Military Finds Kidnapped Migrants
The military found forty-nine migrants who were kidnapped from a bus in northern Mexico on Tuesday, the country’s defense secretary said; the migrants said members of a drug cartel kidnapped them (AP)
Mexico Announces Charges Over Deadly Fire
The head of Mexico’s migration authority, Francisco Garduño, was charged with “unlawful exercise of public office” concerning the deadly fire that killed forty migrants at a migrant center in Ciudad Juárez (BBC)
Mexican authorities detained a Metros drug cartel lieutenant linked to twenty-three attacks on law enforcement and nine attacks on military personnel (AP)
Seven Killed in Shootout
During surveillance patrols in Michoacan, security forces were attacked by a gunman, prompting a shootout that killed six suspected criminals and a military officer and wounded one other; according to reports by local media, the assailants were members of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CBS)
At the Pacific coast seaport of Manzanillo, Mexican inspectors intercepted nearly ten tons of concentrated liquid meth in 11,520 tequila bottles that were due for export (Reuters)
Mass Migration Protest Threatens Road Blockades
In a mass protest procession, around three thousand migrants walked from the southern city of Tapachula to the town of Huehuetán, threatening to block roads and self-harm unless the Mexican government agreed to talks; the migrants are calling for the closure of detention centers and access to paperwork that would allow access to the U.S. border (AP)
Meanwhile, the COVID health order known as ‘Title 42’ is expected to lift and result in an influx of migrants attempting to cross the U.S. border; five policy experts consulted by Reuters are concerned about the strain on Mexico’s migration controls that may lead to more right violations of migrants (Reuters)
Mexico’s Top Court Blocks President’s Push to Put New Security Force Under Military Control
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sought to give the defense ministry authority over the National Guard rather than a civilian ministry; critics said that would reduce transparency of the National Guard’s actions (FT)
NYT: Mexico Is Most Prolific User of Pegasus Spyware
Mexico’s government has continued to use the spyware on human rights defenders in recent months despite pledging to stop, the New York Times reported (NYT)
Mexico’s President Says Talks With U.S. Will Cover Fentanyl Smuggling
Mexican security officials will address the problem during talks in the United States this week, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said (Reuters)
Mexican President Asks China to Help Track Fentanyl Shipments
The request comes as Mexico faces pressure from U.S. lawmakers to crack down on fentanyl smuggling across the southern U.S. border; many of the chemicals used to make the drug come from China, which suspended anti-narcotics cooperation with the United States after then U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August 2022 (FT)
Moreover, according to Mexican officials, four Mexicans were found dead near a hotel in Cancun; two suspects have been arrested for possible involvement and are allegedly involved in the sale and distribution of narcotics (CNN)
Five Arrested Over Deadly Fire at Migrant Detention Center in Mexico
Monday’s fire at a Ciudad Juárez detention center killed thirty-nine people; authorities did not name those arrested, but said they had obtained warrants for three government officials, two private security workers, and a migrant accused of starting the fire (NYT)
Fire Kills at Least Thirty-Nine at Mexican Migrant Center Near U.S. Border
Around seventy people are thought to have been inside the facility in Ciudad Juárez when the fire broke out; the cause of the blaze is unclear (BBC)
Mexican President Denies Claims That Cartels Control Parts of Mexico
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s allegation that parts of Mexico are controlled by drug cartels “false”; he said there are authorities present everywhere in the country (Al Jazeera)
Mexican Military Reports Increase in Raids on Drug Labs
According to government data and leaked military documents, Mexico’s army significantly increased the number of drug lab searches it claims to have carried out under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador; the army retrospectively added hundreds of inactive labs to its seizures list, which led to the upward adjustment (Reuters)
Six Missing Women Killed by Gang
Prosecutors in Guanajuato, Mexico, confirmed that a gang of armed men killed and burned the bodies of six women who went missing on March 7 (AP)
Mexico Files Appeal In U.S. Lawsuit Against Gun Manufacturers
The Mexican government said it will appeal a U.S. court’s dismissal of its lawsuit against U.S. gunmakers, who Mexico says abet the illegal flow of arms to Mexican gangs (Reuters)
Letter Claims Gang Turned In Members Who Killed Americans
Police in Matamoros, Mexico, found five men with their hands bound (BBC)
A note accompanying the men claimed to be from a Gulf Cartel faction and condemned the recent killings of two Americans; the note said the gang wanted to “hand over” those responsible (WaPo)
Two Americans Kidnapped in Mexico Return to U.S., Two Found Dead
The four Americans were kidnapped by members of a drug cartel while visiting Mexico for cosmetic surgery; two of the captives were found alive yesterday and returned to the United States; the cartel had killed the others (AP)
Four U.S. Citizens Kidnapped in State of Tamaulipas
Armed men kidnapped four Americans in Matamoros, Mexico, on Friday, U.S. and Mexican officials said; authorities are searching for the Americans, who Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said had entered Mexico to purchase medication (WaPo)
U.S. Justice Department Indicts MS-13 Gang Leaders
The indictment says thirteen high-ranking leaders of Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) helped direct criminal activities in the United States, El Salvador, and Mexico in recent decades (AP)
Local Leader and Activist Killed in Western Mexico
Alfredo Cisneros, a local leader and anti-logging activist, was shot to death in the Purepecha indigenous village of Sicuicho; the killing is being investigated by authorities and is the most recent in a spate of murders and disappearances in the region (AP)
Mexican Congress Passes Law to Cut Election Agency’s Budget
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador supported the move, which critics say represents a weakening of the rule of law; the new law is expected to be challenged in court (NYT)
Mexico’s Former Top Security Official Convicted in U.S. Drug Case
Genaro García Luna was convicted of taking millions of dollars in bribes from Mexico’s biggest organized crime group while he ran the country’s investigative bureau (NYT)
Bus Crash in Central Mexico Kills Seventeen Migrants
At least seventeen migrants died and another thirteen were injured in the crash; the interior minister of the central Mexican state of Puebla stated the migrants were from Venezuela, Colombia, and Central America (AP)
Witness Testifies Against Ex-Security Chief
A prosecution witness testified that he delivered millions of dollars to former Mexican public safety chief Genaro García Luna; witness Jesús “El Rey” Zambada is a former Sinaloa cartel member who was allegedly attempting to buy impunity with payoffs to Luna (AP)
Cartel Member Arrested in Connection to Fentanyl Trade
Security forces arrested a suspected top cartel member, known as “Mayo Zambada,” who is accused of leading the region’s production of fentanyl in the state of Sinaloa, according to Mexico’s defense ministry (Reuters)