Mexican police: Drug suspect sought rivals' help before capture

The capture this week of Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas, the alleged leader of the La Familia crime syndicate, offered a lesson on how short-lived and fickle alliances in Mexico's criminal underworld can be.Battered by onetime underlings seeking control of his violent criminal syndicate, Mendez Vargas, whose known as "El Chango," or The Monkey, had in recent weeks fled his home turf of Michoacan state...

Gunmen Kill Police Chief in Eastern Mexico

A police chief was killed and three civilians were wounded by gunmen in southern Veracruz, a state on Mexico’s Gulf coast where drug-related violence has been on the rise due to a turf war involving three cartels.Ciudad Isla municipal police department coordinator Ricardo Reyes Alvarez was gunned down on Tuesday afternoon, officials said.Gunmen armed with AR-15 assault rifles opened fire on the police...

Fuerzas Comando competitors gut through grueling aquatic event

The Salvadoran special operations team took first place in the two-day aquatic event of Fuerzas Comando 2011 June 20 at Costa del Sol, increasing their overall lead to 145 points beyond second-place Ecuador. Fuerzas Comando was established in 2004 as a U.S. Southern Command-sponsored special operations skills competition and senior-leader seminar featuring nations from Central and South America and...

Venezuelan billionaire Gustavo Cisneros is setting up joint ventures with Chinese banks to carry out investment in Latin American commodities industries.

The chairman of Cisneros Group of Companies, who is relinquishing operations of the firm to his youngest daughter Adriana, said he aims to push through projects delayed by state inefficiencies through partnerships in energy, agriculture and metals. Deals may take place in countries including Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Panama, Cisneros said.“You’ll probably see in the next year or two a lot of Cisneros...

Mexican federal police have arrested a military deserter believed to have joined the Zetas drug cartel and participated in the massacre of 72 migrants in Tamaulipas

Mexican federal police have arrested a military deserter believed to have joined the Zetas drug cartel and participated in the massacre of 72 migrants in Tamaulipas, near the US border. Ramon Eduardo Pequeo, chief of the Anti-Drug Division of the Federal Police, said that Edgar Huerta Montiel, alias...

U.S. pledges to raise deportation threshold

Moving to repair an immigration enforcement program that has drawn rising opposition from governors and police chiefs, senior immigration officials on Friday announced steps they said would focus the program more closely on deporting immigrants convicted of serious crimes.In unveiling the changes, John Morton, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the deportation program would continue...

make a substantial dent in the financial insecurity of Hispanics in the coming years.

. Hispanics did see strong job growth during the last business cycle with the number of employed Hispanics growing by 26.2 percent—significantly more than the 6.0 percent for African Americans and 4.1 percent for whites. This relatively strong job growth is largely due to dramatic gains in the residential construction and accommodation and food services sectors, which are large employers of Hispanic...