• ABASOLO: At least 18 people died in a shootout between rival gangs the Zetas and the Gulf cartel in the town of Abasolo in Tamaulipas state Monday morning.
• ACAPULCO: Three government offices were set on fire in the resort city of Acapulco Monday night by unknown assailants, damaging documents and computer equipment. The offices belong to the health department, the interior department and a federal government health insurance program. They are all housed in the same building and no employees were in the offices at the time of the fire. A motive has not yet been determined.
• CIUDAD JUÁREZ : Julian Leyzaola, a former lieutenant colonel, was named public safety secretary by the mayor of Ciudad Juárez, Hector Murguia, Thursday. Leyzaola formerly worked as the police chief in Tijuana for a year before becoming the city’s public safety secretary in 2008, where he was widely applauded for his fight against drug traffickers and corrupt members of Tijuana’s police force, but also criticized over allegations of brutality against police officers suspected of corruption (read our blog about the allegations). He most recently worked as Baja California’s state deputy public safety secretary, and has been replaced in that post by Jorge Eduardo Montero Álvarez, a retired member of the military.
• CIUDAD JUÁREZ: Ten people linked to the Barrio Azteca gang were indicted Wednesday in the March 2010 killings of three people linked to the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juárez. Those killed include a consular employee, her husband, and the husband of a Mexican employee of the consulate. The motive for the killings is unclear. Authorities have seven of the ten people indicted in custody and are searching for the other three.
• CIUDAD JUÁREZ: The mayor of Ciudad Juárez, Hector Murguia declared over the weekend that the violent city was “winning the war” on the drug cartels, saying, “This is a fight. This is a war. We are winning the war.” He also denied that the city was among the world’s most dangerous, saying, “This is not one of the most dangerous cities in the world. This is not Iran. This is not Iraq.” More than 3,000 people were killed in Ciudad Juárez last year.
• PRÁXEDIS G. GUERRERO: Marisol Valles, the police chief of Práxedis G. Guerrero was fired on Monday when she didn’t report to work, and on Tuesday it was discovered she was seeking asylum in the United States near El Paso, Texas. The 20-year-old had volunteered for the post when no one else wanted it and had been widely lauded for her bravery. Her predecessor was beheaded by drug gangs.
• SAN LUIS POTOSI: Mexican federal police detained Mario Jimenez, alias “El Mayito” and 16 other suspected gang members Wednesday because of alleged ties to the February 15 killing of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jaime Zapata, bringing the number of people taken into the custody over the killing to more than 30. Police believe Jimenez manages the payroll for the Zetas’ hitmen, as well as purchasing real estate and equipment for the criminal group in San Luis Potosi.
• MONTERREY: During a confrontation between criminal groups and the military in Monterrey early Thursday morning, three criminals were killed, El Universal reported.

This post was written by CIP Intern Erin Shea

Here’s a rundown of news from Mexico this week:

• Members of the military clashed with suspected cartel members in Jacona Thursday night, leaving two people dead. Authorities are unsure to which criminal organization the two dead belonged, according to an article in the Mexican paper, El Universal.
• Jesus Quirarte Ruvalcaba, the head of a Mexican state police department that targets car thieves, and his wife, Maria Guadalupe Aldrete Rosales, were killed Thursday morning on their way to work by gunmen who attacked their state-owned vehicle. The two were killed in Zapopan, a city just outside of Guadalajara in central Mexico. About 100 casings were found at the scene.
• Luis Humberto Peralta Hernandez, alias “The Condor”, a high-ranking figure in the Juarez cartel, was shot and killed during a gun battle with police in Chihuahua on Tuesday. His death was only made public on Thursday because he had been carrying a fake ID, which delayed his identification, according to officials. Peralta was believed to be involved in almost 100 murders while a member of the deadly Juarez cartel. Three other alleged members of the cartel were arrested during the gun battle.
• EFE is reporting that cartel members have been prohibiting private paramedics in Ciudad Juarez from taking gunshot victims across the border to El Paso for treatment since last year. The paramedics have been receiving the death threats through the Life 1 radio frequency, which is used by first responders.

  Gunshot victims in Cuidad Juarez frequently request to be taken to El Paso for treatment for security reasons, because, according to the EFE article, “Gunmen have sometimes chased ambulances or entered hospitals in Juarez to finish off people who survived shootings.” It is estimated that five people sustain gunshot wounds in the beleaguered border city each day.

• It was announced Wednesday that Mexican president Felipe Calderón will meet with Obama in Washington on March 3, amid tension over U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks that criticized the Mexican government in its fight against the drug cartels. The meeting has been in the works for weeks, according to Calderón’s office, and no particular incident spurred the meeting. Abigail Poe summarized the WikiLeaks controversy on our blog.
• Police in Mexico detained six members of the Zetas cartel on Wednesday, who they believe are linked to the killing of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Jaime Zapata. The men were found during an army raid on gang safehouses in San Luis Potosi. The main suspect, Julian Zapata Espinoza, alias "El Piolin," told army officials that they thought the vehicle belonged to members of a rival gang and that the U.S. agent was not the intended target of the attack.
• Acapulco faced a wave of violence while hosting the Mexican Open tennis tournament this week which left at least 13 people dead. According to the AFP, seven people died and five vehicles were burned Friday during confrontations between gang members, four people died and two were hurt during a shootout on Saturday, and two people were found dead on Sunday, along with five burned vehicles. The latest of those victims were two men and a woman found dead in the trunk of a stolen taxi Tuesday night. Officials said one of the men was decapitated.
• On Saturday in Reynosa, President Felipe Calderón announced that four battalions of Mexican soldiers would be sent to Mexico’s northern border to fight the increasing drug violence in the area.

This post was written by CIP Intern Erin Shea

• Two FARC hostages were released Wednesday, after being held by the rebel group for more than two years. Major Guillermo Solorzano, 35, was kidnapped by the FARC in Cauca in June 2007 and Corporal Salin Sanmiguel, 28, was kidnapped in Tolima in May 2008 during an attack on the Army in which five soldiers where killed. The two were scheduled to be released to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Sunday, but the release was delayed for reasons that remain in dispute. Government officials accused the FARC of deceiving the humanitarian delegation on purpose, but delegation leader and former senator Piedad Cordoba said the rescue failed due to “adverse weather, and geographical and logistical problems” according to the BBC.
• Another FARC hostage, Carlos Ocampo, a 30 year old police officer who had been held by the guerrillas since December, was successfully rescued on Sunday.
• Salvador Antonio Negrete, one of three members of “Los Urabeños” captured this week, is suspected by authorities of planning the murders of Mateo Matamala, 23, and Margarita Gómez, 26, two students at the Universidad de los Andes.

  The other members captured include Cristian David Bravo and Rafael Antonio Grandett, who is considered to be the regional head of “Los Urabeños”.

• In Antioquia, six presumed members of the FARC were killed in a confrontation with Colombian soldiers.
• New statistics on Cúcuta were released last week that show a 54.8% reduction in homicides in the metropolitan area. In 2010, 31 murders occurred in January, as opposed to 14 in January 2011. Both years registered a very significant decrease in murders compared to January 2002, when 140 murders were committed.
• Rebels bombed an oil pipeline in Putumayo that transports an average of 25,000 to 30,000 barrels of oil per day, causing it to go offline for several days last week. It is unknown whether the FARC or ELN are responsible for the attack or why that particular pipeline was targeted.
• Last Wednesday, the FARC freed Councilman Marcos Baquero, who had been held hostage by the group for 19 months. The International Committee for the Red Cross rescued the councilman, who was the first FARC hostage released this year.
• As the FARC prepared to release hostages, the group kidnapped two contractors who work for a paper company in Tambo, along with a third man, who managed to escape. It is unknown why the FARC kidnapped the men, but president Juan Manuel Santos condemned the move and, according to MercoPress, Santos responded to the news saying, “I was tempted to suspend the release of the hostages, because it is totally unacceptable that the FARC are on the one hand freeing hostages in a gesture of generosity, and on the other kidnapping compatriots.”
• According to MercoPress, the Santos government has demanded the cessation of hostilities and the release of all FARC hostages before beginning talks to end the conflict in Colombia.

This post was written by CIP Intern Erin Shea

Here's a rundown of news from Mexico last week:

• Eight people were killed Thursday night when gunmen opened fire at the “Las Torres” bar in Ciudad Juárez. Three more people were hospitalized in critical condition. Investigators don't know yet who was behind the attacks.
• In a hearing of the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Thursday, U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper called Mexican armed forces and police “inadequate to contain criminal violence.” He said that the country is facing “enormous challenges” in the drug war and institutional reform has been bogged down by “resource constraints, competing political priorities, and bureaucratic resistance.”
• A shootout in Zacatecas left one soldier and eight gunmen wounded Wednesday night. Two other soldiers were wounded and six assault rifles, three radios, and two bulletproof jackets were seized.
• Officials said that a man, who had gained notoriety in Chihuahua state after killing three members of La Linea, who had tried to extort money from him last month, was killed last Tuesday night along with his wife in his auto parts store in Puerto Palomas de Villa, near Ciudad Juárez. The couple's six-year-old daughter was a witness to the killings.
• Last Tuesday, the National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) released its 2010 report to President Felipe Calderón. The CNDH reports that 6,916 cases of alleged rights violations were investigated in 2010, most of which were attributed to the military and local and federal police. According to the article, the report confirmed “24 cases of cruel or inhuman treatment, 21 cases of arbitrary detention, and 11 cases of torture.” In response to the report, the Mexican president said that human rights should never be violated and called organized crime "the main threat to human rights in our country."
• In the northern city of Reynosa last Tuesday, 44 Guatemalan migrants and 3 Mexican migrants were rescued when soldiers found them in a house they had been locked in by kidnappers. According to the Mexican Defense Department, no one was arrested.
• Three junior officers and seven enlisted soldiers were detained in Baja California last Tuesday and turned over to federal prosecutors in Mexico City the following day for alleged ties to drug traffickers.
• Two siblings and a sister-in-law of Josefina Reyes, a human rights activist killed last year, were kidnapped last Monday, according to Amnesty International . The group's van was intercepted by gunmen, who took them to an unknown location. Reyes' mother and niece were unharmed. Josefina’s brother, Rubén Reyes was also killed earlier this year. Rupert Knox, Mexico researcher at Amnesty International, said in an article posted on the group’s website that "We are gravely worried that Malena, Elías and Luisa are at risk of suffering the same fate as Ruben and Josefina Reyes, who appears to have been killed for daring to speak out against the explosion of violence in Mexico."

This post was written by CIP Intern Erin Shea

• On Thursday, 30 Colombian troops were wounded by explosives detonated by FARC guerrillas while they were traveling to defuse a car bomb in the Arauca department. While one soldier did require surgery for his injuries, none of the troops were critically injured.
• "Los urabeños" has begun threatening and attacking 80 former members who it believes have given security forces information that led to the capture of three of its members, who go by the aliases of "Guri-Guri", "El Pájaro" and "Cantin." Some of the demobilized have recently asked for government protection against the threats they receive from criminal groups. Since 2006, 31 demobilized paramilitaries have been killed in the department of Bolivar alone, and 1,800 have been killed throughout Colombia, according to police figures, and 2,330 threats have been made against demobilized persons since 2008.
• A 32-year-old man in Soacha claims he was beaten by police early Thursday morning. The man, Julio César Villa, says the police beat him and left him in a vacant parking lot. The medical report concluded that Villa, who was under the influence of drugs at the time, was injured with a short, blunt object. According to Villa's mother, this is not the first time Villa has been beaten by police. She says he was beaten by a police officer two years ago, who was reportedly fired.
• In Córdoba two students were found murdered Wednesday night. Mora Silvia Castillo, 20, a student of business administration at the University of Cartagena, Cereté and her cousin, Juan Carlos Martínez Castillo, 22, a student of marketing and sales at the Sena, were reportedly heading to an internet cafe at the time. The police believe that it may have been an attempted robbery, but no details of the investigation have been released.
• Bogotá's police chief said Tuesday that he had a “positive” assessment of security in Bogotá, citing a reduction in crime and an increase in the number of murder suspects captured since the year began, as well as an increase in the number of weapons seized by the police. In a press conference Tuesday, Bogotá Mayor Samuel Moreno also indicted the situation has improved, noting that, as an example, in Suba there had not been a homicide in 15 days.
• The FARC attacked Anorí Tuesday morning, as hundreds of displaced people returned to their homes. The guerrilla group blew up one of the bridges that connects Anorí with Campamento, injuring a contractor for the hydroelectrical center Porce III, John Alberto Pérez Posada, who was sent to a hospital in Medellín to recover. The FARC seeks to negotiate with the government terms in which there will be no spraying of illicit crops and no military presence in the area.

  The FARC also blew up two trucks Tuesday that were paving the road from San Andrés to Toledoin northeastern Antioquia. There were no casualties.

This post was written by CIP Intern Erin Shea

• The AFP and The Los Angeles Times reported today on new concerns that the drug war may be spreading into the country’s capital, after 10 people were killed in the suburb of Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl in killings that are believed to be tied to The Zetas and La Familia cartels. Recent raids in the Nápoles and Del Valle districts and the Iztacalco borough led to arrests of suspected members of The Zetas.
• A police officer and a civilian in Monterrey received minor injuries after an explosive device thrown out of a truck exploded near a security checkpoint.
• All 38 police and the police chief of the northern town of General Teran quit after discovering two of their colleagues’ beheaded bodies on Wednesday. The town’s police department has been attacked three times since December and according to the mayor another police officer has been missing for weeks. Soldiers, state and federal police have been deployed to patrol the town due to the absence of a municipal police force.
• 59-year-old Nancy Davis, an American missionary who had served with her husband for decades in northern Mexico, was shot in the head and killed Wednesday, possibly by drug cartels who wanted her pickup truck, according to authorities.
• Mexico’s Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos released a statement yesterday claiming that 111 civilians died during military and police operations against narcotrafficking in 2010, the most violent year yet in Mexico’s continuing drug war.
• Banners were hung on Monday in Michoacan and Guerrero claiming that La Familia drug cartel was disbanding. Security spokesman Alejandro Poire said that although La Familia appears to be “in retreat” since its leader, Nazario Moreno, was killed in December, no truce would be made with the cartel.
• A bodyguard for the mayor of Ciudad Juárez, Jorge Humberto Munoz Perez, 29, was killed Tuesday in an exchange with federal police. Mayor Hector "Teto" Murguia accused federal police of the shooting, saying his bodyguard was shot after identifying himself as one of Murguia’s bodyguards. According to both the federal police spokesman, Ramón Salinas, and a statement from the mayor’s office, the mayor and his bodyguards were coming from a meeting with local priests when the incident occurred.
• Seven people were killed in Ciudad Juárez Sunday afternoon during a soccer game at a park. Investigators found 180 bullet casings that they say are from weapons typical of drug gangs, although no motive or suspects have been identified. The park was part of the "Todo Somos Juárez” program, meant to reduce violence in the city.
• Eight supposed cartel members were killed in confrontations with the military in the state of Nuevo Leon Tuesday, according to a report filed by DPA in La Tercera.

This post was written by CIP intern Erin Shea

Colombia's ongoing conflict has seen its fair share of developments in the past two weeks. Here's a rundown of recent news:

• On January 14, the homes of Puerto Asís Mayor Mauro Toro and his daughter, Sandra, were attacked, presumably by FARC guerillas. According to the commander of the Putumayo police department, Colonel Juan Alberto Libreros, Sandra's home was attacked with mid-power explosives, and it appears that the rebels' intention was to kidnap her. About the same time, the mayor's house was attacked by gunfire. No casualties were reported. The two both live in Puerto Asís, a town in the Putumayo department.
• A week earlier, on January 7, a statement by FARC leader Alfonso Cano was released on YouTube, claiming that the FARC would intensify its attacks in 2011. The Colombian government labeled the statement "bravado" on the part of Cano. An English translation of the statement can be found here.
• The murders of two college students in Córdoba, Margarita Gómez, 23, and Mateo Matamala, 26, whose bodies were found on January 10, exposed the difficult reality that 31 murders had been committed in the department so far this year.
• A family from Anorí in Antioquia was rescued by members of the Colombian Army and Air Force after escaping from the FARC, who had sentenced them to death. El Colombiano published an in-depth story of their escape here.
• 72 families from rural areas of the Córdoba department were forcibly displaced recently as a result of fighting between Las Águilas Negras and Los Paisas. The actions of the two paramilitary groups were later denounced by ombudsman Volmar Pérez. The exact number of people that comprise the 72 displaced families is unknown.
• Yesterday, according to the Colombian Air Force, three troops were injured when members of the FARC attacked a military base in Valle del Guamuez with explosives and gunfire. The injured were taken to a hospital in the zone.
• Colombian Minister of Defense, Rodrigo Rivera, announced yesterday that an offensive is being launched against kidnapping and extortion in the department of Arauca, in northeastern Colombia. The department, which borders Venezuela, has seen a decrease in the number of homicides recently, but there is "worrying activity" in regards to kidnapping and extortion, crimes that authorities say the FARC and ELN are committing from the Venezuelan side of the border.

This post was written by CIP Intern Erin Shea

• 2010 saw 15,273 deaths in Mexico, according to new estimates put out by the Mexican government this week. Judging by recent violence this week, it doesn't look as though this year will be faring much better, with a new report by the Citizen Council for Public Security and Justice claiming that almost one-quarter of the world's most dangerous cities are now in Mexico.
• Over the weekend, 51 people were murdered throughout Mexico, including 15 who were decapitated in the resort city of Acapulco.
• An unidentified man was found murdered on the highway to Acapulco on Monday, bringing the four-day death toll in the city to 31.
• A new map of drug cartel territories created by Stratfor, a security analysis company, and published by The Economist this week shows the lines of territory blurring and the cartels spreading into Central America.
• On Tuesday, Abraham Ortiz Rosales, the mayor of Temoac, was assassinated. He was the second mayor assassinated since 2011 began.
• Tuesday also saw two Mexican federal investigators injured in Cuidad Juárez, with one of the men receiving an estimated 10 gunshot wounds. It was reported that the two were injured while trying to arrest the suspects.
• The body of Cuidad Juárez activist Susana Chávez was identified this week. The activist was murdered last week, although it is not believed that her murder is related to her activism.
• Monterrey, Mexico's richest, and formerly one of its safest, cities, has seen an upswing in violence in recent months, a trend that doesn't seem to have slowed down since the beginning of the new year. Thursday, the ninth police officer was killed in just two weeks.
• Mayor Luis Jimenez Mata of Santiago Amoltepec in Oaxaca state was gunned down on Thursday, making him the third mayor killed so far this year.
• In good news, police arrested Julio Enrique Ayala Munoz on Thursday, who they claim is the link between the Colombian Comba drug gang and the Mexican Sinaloa cartel.

This post was written by CIP Intern Erin Shea.

The new year is off to a violent start in Colombia, marred by an assassination and several guerilla attacks. Here’s a brief overview of the most recent news related to the violence in Colombia.

• The city of Neiva, the capital of the southwestern department of Huila, has been the site of three guerilla bombings since Sunday. The second attack Tuesday night left one young person injured and the most recent attack yesterday morning damaged an estimated 50 homes, also leaving many Neiva residents without power. Near the location of Thursday’s blast, bomb specialists deactivated another explosive device. All three attacks are being attributed to the FARC.
• On January 7 in Medellín, unknown assailants assassinated Jaime Humberto Sánchez, the mayor of Santo Domingo, a municipality in the Antioquia department in northeastern Colombia. The mayor was killed after a shootout with the assailants, who also injured a bodyguard of the mayor’s. He was pronounced dead after being transported to Pablo Tobón Uribe hospital.
• Ingrid Betancourt, a former hostage of the FARC, asked the group to release all hostages, not only the five the FARC has promised will be released around January 18. Those five, which include members of the army, police, and marines, were all taken hostage between 2007 and 2010.
• Five Colombian soldiers have been accused of killing three members of the Agudelo family in 2002 and passing the men off as members of the FARC killed in combat. Investigators determined the three men were defenseless when they were killed.

This post was written by CIP Intern Erin Shea