Ukraine’s Zelenskiy to address Mexican lawmakers on Thursday

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will address Mexican lawmakers on Thursday by video, the lower house of Congress said, as he seeks support in his country’s war with Russia. The Mexican government has said it wants to remain neutral in the conflict, and some supporters of Ukraine have criticized leftist President Andres Manuel…

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Costa Rica president gets tougher on security as crime soars

SAN JOSE (Reuters) – Costa Rica’s president on Wednesday presented a set of security measures in response to surging crime rates in the Central American country, which is currently on track this year to beat 2022’s record murder rate. “I want people to be able to walk down the street in peace,” President Rodrigo Chaves…

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US must stem ‘iron river’ of guns flowing to Latin America, activists say

By Sarah Morland (Reuters) – U.S. guns, many of them exported legally, are flowing into Latin America in an “iron river” ending in the hands of drug cartels and abusive security forces, activists said Monday, calling for greater oversight from U.S. law and federal agencies. More than half of “crime guns” recovered and traced in…

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Mexico nabs, swiftly deports MS-13 gang leader to El Salvador

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) – Police in Mexico City arrested one of the most wanted leaders of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha gang accused of multiple crimes in the United States, officials said on Tuesday, in a fresh blow to one of Central America’s most violent criminal groups. Jose Wilfredo Ayala, 55, was arrested after a tip…

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Mexican National Guard suspected of killing pregnant teenager -state official

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Members of Mexico’s National Guard are suspected of killing two civilians this weekend in the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo, including a pregnant teenager, a state official and local media said on Monday. The shooting was likely due to a mix-up because a vehicle with gunmen in it had been…

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US charges El Chapo sons, Chinese businessmen with fentanyl trafficking

By Katharine Jackson and Luc Cohen (Reuters) – The United States has charged leaders of the Mexico-based Sinaloa Cartel with running a fentanyl trafficking operation fueled by Chinese chemical and pharmaceutical companies, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Friday. Three sons of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the onetime leader of the Sinaloa Cartel now…

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U.S. imposes sanctions on Chinese companies in action over fentanyl

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Washington on Friday imposed sanctions on two entities based in China, accusing them supplying precursor chemicals to drug cartels in Mexico for the production of illicit fentanyl intended for the United States, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement. The Treasury said it also designated five people based in China and…

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