drug cartels

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

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.

Brazil’s deadly prison riot is just one piece of a bigger drug gang war
Members of a band record a narcocorrido in downtown Culiacan, Mexico.

Mexico's 'narco state' gets a cultural boost from new, more gory pop ballads

Mexico's 'narco state' gets a cultural boost from new, more gory pop ballads
People carry photographs of missing students during a march in Acapulco on October 17, 2014. On September 26, police allegedly linked to a criminal gang shot dead at least three students and abducted dozens of others during clashes in the southwestern cit

'If they are going to kill us, let them kill us for a just cause,' say Mexican citizens

'If they are going to kill us, let them kill us for a just cause,' say Mexican citizens

A Catholic bishop in Mexico takes on the Knights Templar drug cartel

A Catholic bishop in Mexico takes on the Knights Templar drug cartel
In the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juárez, children visit the new Los Soles study center in the city’s outskirts.

The children of Mexico's drug violence have a tiny haven in Cuidad Juárez

The children of Mexico's drug violence have a tiny haven in Cuidad Juárez