Drug War

A woman wearing a white shirt signs a black silhouette during a demonstration for mothers of enforced disappearances

In Mexico, the unending drug war takes its toll with thousands of disappearances 

Conflict & Justice

A report issued on July 14 by Mexico’s National Search Commission said 73,218 people have been confirmed missing since 1964, and almost all of them — 71,678 — since 2006 when organized crime and drug-trafficking violence in the country began to increase.

Residents are seen outside their shanties in Navotas, Metro Manila, Philippines, where Jazmine Durana lives, Oct. 28, 2017.

Teen ‘widows’ of Duterte’s drug war face a bleak economic future

Conflict
A farmer cleans a coca crop in Cauca, Colombia, on Jan. 27, 2017.

UN reaches a deal to help rid Colombia of cocaine

Economics
Valdez protest

Mourning a journalist in Mexico who said ‘no to silence’

Media
Duterte

White House defends Trump inviting Rodrigo Duterte to Washington

Global Politics
Recaptured drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is escorted by soldiers at the hangar belonging to the office of the Attorney General in Mexico City

Mexico just extradited drug lord ‘El Chapo’ to the US

Justice

Joaquín Guzmán — whose nickname “El Chapo” means “shorty” — is the most recognized figure of Mexico’s drug trade and faces a slew of charges in several US jurisdictions of drug distribution, murder and money laundering.

A relative of a prisoner sat on Jan. 3 outside Anisio Jobim prison in Manaus, Brazil

Brazil’s deadly prison riot is just one piece of a bigger drug gang war

Conflict

Over the weekend, at least 56 people were killed in a prison riot in northern Brazil, while 184 prisoners escaped from there, as well as other prisons. The victims — many of them beheaded and thrown over the prison walls — mainly included members of Brazil’s feared First Command gang, known by its Portuguese initials PCC.

Mexican actress Kate Del Castillo arrives at the 2011 Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival special screening of "Without Men" during the Maya Indie film series in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, July 24, 2011.

Tracking El Chapo and Kate del Castillo’s relationship from their flirtatious texts

Culture

“You are the best in the world,” the druglord tells the actress. The texts published by a Mexican newspaper show his flattery, her fear of authorities and their negotiation over a pink or gray BlackBerry.