Tag: mexico

Two Suspects Arrested After Famous Musician and His Family Are Murdered in Mexico

Two suspects were arrested for the murder of rock band keyboardist Jonathan Meléndez and several others, including his wife and child, according to a social media post from Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum.

“In a joint operation by Fiscalía General de Justicia del Estado de México, Secretaría de Seguridad y Protección Ciudadana, and Policía Ciudad de México, two men were arrested on suspicion of being responsible for the homicide of four people,” the Facebook post, translated from Spanish, read.

“Among the victims is a pregnant woman and a minor. The incidents occurred yesterday in Atizapán de Zaragoza, State of Mexico,” the message continued.

“Investigations established that one of the arrested individuals was a partner of one of the victims. He allegedly took advantage of that trust to break into the residence.
“The coordination between the authorities of the State of Mexico, Mexico City, and the Government of Mexico allowed for the location and arrest of both suspects in less than 12 hours.

“In the face of a crime of this magnitude, the authorities acted immediately and in a coordinated manner,” the statement concluded. “The two suspects are already in custody and will be turned over to justice.”


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Mexico Is Growing Because It Still Produces Something

Mexico’s economy expanded 1.4% in the second quarter, nearly three times the OECD average of 0.5%. That placed it sixth among the economies in the report and marked its strongest quarterly expansion since early 2022. Yet listen to the political discussion in Washington and you would think nothing exists south of the border except cartels and migrants. There are factories, engineers, suppliers, and entire communities whose livelihoods depend on producing goods for the North American market. Politicians can dismiss Mexico all they want, but corporations making investment decisions have to look at costs, transportation, labor, and access to customers.

Mexico is benefiting from manufacturing moving closer to the United States, with opportunities spreading into the businesses supporting that production. The economy contracted a revised 0.3% in the first quarter before rebounding, and output in the second quarter was 2.1% above a year earlier. Nobody should pretend that this means Mexico has entered some uninterrupted boom. Nor should we attribute the entire rebound to manufacturing when the report identifies primary activities as the fastest-growing sector, expanding 2.4%. The broader point is that a country’s productive potential does not vanish because one quarterly number disappoints. Investment takes time to become capacity, and capacity takes time to become income.

Washington’s mistake is assuming that forcing companies to reconsider China automatically means all that production will return to the United States. A manufacturer must calculate whether it can operate profitably. Moving closer to American customers while retaining a competitive cost structure can make Mexico attractive. Tariffs may change that calculation, but they do not abolish it. Businesses will adjust their operations to survive whatever rules governments impose.

There is also a difference between attracting productive investment and attempting to manufacture prosperity through public spending. A factory must eventually sell something customers want at a price they will pay. Government can borrow to finance an unsuccessful program and then borrow again to conceal the failure. The private business does not possess that luxury indefinitely. Its survival depends on meeting demand, controlling costs, and investing where it expects a return. That discipline is precisely what disappears when politicians convince themselves they can direct the economy better than the people risking their own money.

Mexico can still squander the opportunity. Security, water, electricity, transportation, and predictable rules matter to anyone considering a long-term investment. A cheap workforce is of little use if production is repeatedly interrupted or goods cannot reach the customer. Mexico’s government cannot simply congratulate itself over a favorable growth ranking and assume investment will continue regardless of its decisions. Geography provides an advantage, but government can make even an advantageous location too difficult to operate in.

Mexico’s recovery deserves attention because it brings the discussion back to something governments routinely forget: people need the opportunity to earn a better living. They need employers competing for their skills and customers willing to purchase what they produce. A quarterly GDP ranking will not provide that by itself, but sustained productive investment can. Mexico has an opportunity to turn its position beside the American market into lasting prosperity. The greatest service its politicians can provide is to stop assuming that the wealth created by everyone else exists primarily for government to spend.

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Becerra’s Mexican Consulate Network: Is The California Governor Frontrunner Running A Foreign Influence Operation?

Xavier Becerra, California’s AG turned HHS Sec turned likely Gubernatorial candidate, got his start in politics thanks to a foreign coordinated influence network that funnels through Mexico’s consulates, says a recent Government Accountability Institute (GAI) report. The gigantic network was built by Becerra, in part, through his alignment with nonprofit organizations that have coordinated for decades with Mexico’s 50+ US consulates. Mexico’s former Foreign Minister said it best: “We are already giving instructions to our consulates that they begin propagating militant actions — if you will — in their communities.” That is not a metaphor. Mexico’s consulates have run voter registration drives and distributed how-to guides on crossing into the US and evading Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

As “my family,” Becerra aids the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), an organization running multiple operations both north and south of the border. The DOGE project called CHIRLA a “civic pipeline” of immigration services to Democratic voter mobilization. The group has sent activists to obstruct live ICE enforcement operations and has called for dismantling the Department of Homeland Security entirely.

UnidosUS — formerly the National Council of La Raza — is next. Becerra has given keynote speeches at their annual conferences, with travel expenses covered by the group. Unidos was founded under a written agreement with Mexican President Carlos Salinas, which Mexico’s Foreign Ministry described as “an instrument of Mexican foreign policy.” Unidos directors have held meetings with Mexican officials specifically to strategize resistance to Trump administration enforcement.

The Logan Act — the very law now trending nationwide — outlaws U.S. citizens’ engagement with foreign governments to change their positions on disputes with the United States. GAI President Peter Schweizer argues this coordination goes beyond politics. In 2024, Mexican leaders explicitly endorsed MALDEF and Unidos as vehicles for “collective action” toward reclaiming the American Southwest.

On September 11, 2017, Becerra attended a private luncheon with Mexican diplomats during their mission to organize resistance to Trump’s DACA termination. That same day, he filed a lawsuit that ultimately preserved DACA in federal court. Coincidence or coordination? The State Department has begun a national security review of all 53 Mexican consulates. The question now is whether DOJ will follow.

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US Military Shoots Down 3 Mexican Cartel Drones With Laser

A laser system was used to shoot down three drug cartel drones in southern Texas, close to the Mexican border, the U.S. military said on Aug. 27.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, in a joint statement, said an Army Multipurpose High Energy Laser (AMP-HEL) was used overnight on Aug. 25-26 in the Rio Grande Valley.

The Joint Task Force-Southern Border (JTF-SB) deemed the three drones to be hostile and posing a physical threat to U.S. military personnel and their partners in U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor, commander of JTF-SB, said the successful operation against the drones was a testament to the readiness, vigilance, and technological edge of his force.

US Will ‘Not Tolerate Hostile Surveillance’

“Cartel networks are increasingly employing unmanned aircraft systems to facilitate illicit human-smuggling and actively spy on our personnel and law enforcement partners,” Taylor said. “By integrating layered countermeasures alongside advanced directed-energy capabilities like this laser system, we have made it clear that we will not tolerate hostile surveillance.”

Ammon Blair, a former U.S.Border Patrol agent and senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Secure & Sovereign Texas Initiative, told The Epoch Times in March 2025 that he recalled hearing cartel-operated drones overhead while working along the Texas border.

“You’d be running, and you’d have a drone right above your head and tracking every move you made,” Blair said at the time.

In February, the airspace around El Paso International Airport was closed for 7 hours for “special security reasons.”

The White House told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement at the time that Mexican cartel-operated drones had breached U.S. airspace and that the Department of War took action to disable them.

In other parts of Mexico, cartels have used drones to drop explosives in deadly attacks, but there is no suggestion the drones in the Texas incident were armed.

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Mexican national operating money service charged with laundering cartel drug proceeds

Christopher A. Bravo Marin, 46, was indicted by a federal grand jury last week charging him with conspiring to launder at least $750,000 in drug proceeds on behalf of the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), one of the most prolific and dangerous drug cartels in Mexico, according to U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen.

Marin, aka Bravo, a Mexican national was arrested Monday by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents. He appeared before a U.S. magistrate judge in Minneapolis on Aug. 25, 2026.

According to the charges:

From at least February 2023 to at least February 2026, Bravo, an employee of a Minnesota-based money transmitting business, conspired with members of a CJNG drug distribution cell in Minnesota to launder drug proceeds and transfer them to cartel leaders in Mexico through the money transmitter where he worked. Bravo used his position at the money transmitter and his understanding of his employer’s compliance policies and procedures to evade their anti-money laundering controls and conceal the illicit source of the funds he laundered. Cartel members paid Bravo approximately $40-50 for each transfer that he laundered.

To transfer the funds, Bravo allegedly structured the amount of money to be sent to Mexico across multiple transfers, ensuring that each transfer was always right below $1,000—the money transmitter’s threshold for collecting and verifying a customer’s identification document. Bravo created fake names of Hispanic origin to serve as the senders and sent the money to straw beneficiaries in Mexico whose names he received from cartel members.

After processing the transfers, Bravo forged the signature of the senders on each payment confirmation receipt to make the transfer appear legitimate and texted screenshots of the receipts to his co-conspirators so that the funds could be redeemed in Mexico.

Bravo is charged with one count of conspiracy to engage in money laundering, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. A federal district judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Trial attorney Javier Urbina of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section (MNF) and Assistant United States Attorney Rebecca E. Kline for the District of Minnesota are prosecuting the case.

The U.S. Attorney’s press release explained that MNF’s mission is to take the profit out of crime, eliminate drug cartels, and protect the U.S. financial system. MNF pursues criminal prosecutions and criminal and civil asset recovery actions involving: financial facilitators who launder profits for criminals; financial institutions and their officers and employees whose actions threaten the U.S. financial system and financial institutions; international money launderers who support transnational organized crime; and the top command and control of international drug trafficking organizations.

MNF’s Bank Integrity Unit investigates and prosecutes banks and other financial institutions, including their officers, managers and employees whose actions threaten the integrity of the individual institution or the wider financial system.

“This defendant strengthened a criminal infrastructure by helping transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds to cartel leaders,” said Rosen. “My office remains committed to taking down drug trafficking organizations that threaten the public safety of the people of Minnesota.”

Bravo was released from custody on an appearance bond after making his initial court appearance.

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Accused Drug Trafficker Resumes Work As Sinaloa Governor Despite Being Wanted by USDOJ

An accused drug trafficker has resumed his post as governor of Sinaloa in Mexico, despite being a wanted fugitive of the U.S. Department of Justice. The move comes as tensions continue to rise between the U.S. Government and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has been actively defending the politician.

On Friday morning, Ruben Rocha Moya announced that he was returning to work after several weeks on leave following the U.S. Department of Justice’s announcement that he had been criminally indicted for his role in the Sinaloa Cartel. In a prepared statement shared on social media, Rocha Moya claimed that he had done what was needed of him and cooperated with Mexican authorities to prove his innocence.

As Breitbart Texas reported, the U.S. Department of Justice announced in April the indictment against Rocha Moya and nine of his closest political allies in the state. They are accused of drug conspiracy and weapons charges. At the time, rather than help with arrest and extradition, Sheinbaum publicly defended Rocha Moya, who is from the same political party — MORENA.

According to Sheinbaum, there is no evidence of wrongdoing by Rocha Moya, and the public indictment was politically motivated by the U.S. far right as a way to damage the MORENA party. Sheinbaum’s move sparked tension with the U.S. government, which has been pushing Mexico to fight drug cartels.

In an apparent move to avoid questions over Rocha Moya’s return to power, Sheinbaum announced on Friday that she was not going to her daily news conference because she was sick with flu-like symptoms.

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Mexican President Rushes to Defend Former President’s Son Over Illegal Fuel Allegations

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rushed to defend the son of her predecessor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) after the U.S. Department of State revoked his visa, and various news outlets linked him to the cartel-connected illegal fuel market. Sheinbaum claimed there is no evidence of wrongdoing on the politician’s part and that the visa revocation was carried out for political purposes.

During a news conference, Sheinbaum revealed that Andres Manuel Lopez Beltran was not under investigation in Mexico in connection with the illegal fuel trade known as huachacol. As Breitbart Texas reported, Lopez Beltran recently made national headlines after revealing that the U.S. Department of State revoked his tourist visa. While no reason for the visa revocation was given, the ex-president’s son has been the topic of multiple Breitbart Texas articles for his alleged role in the smuggling of illegal fuel in and out of Mexico through a network that included top Mexican military and naval officials, as well as political figures.

This week, news outlets in Mexico reported that Lopez Beltran was mentioned in two separate statements from cooperating witnesses in connection with ongoing investigations over cartel-connected fuel trade. Additionally, various news outlets, including Latinus, have reported that friends of Lopez Beltran have been recorded claiming to have close relationships with leaders of CJNG.

Since Lopez Beltran is the son of former Mexican President AMLO, Mexico’s political elite, including Sheinbaum, has rushed to his defense, proclaiming his innocence. Earlier this week, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office released a statement confirming that Lopez Beltran was not under investigation and that news articles tying him to the fuel trade were false, Breitbart Texas reported.

Mexico’s government’s defense of Lopez Beltran is similar to the way Sheinbaum and her government protected Sinaloa Governor Ruben Rocha Moya earlier this year. As Breitbart Texas reported, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the criminal indictment of Rocha Moya and nine of his closest political allies in April, charging them with drug conspiracy and weapons charges for their alleged role in working with the Sinaloa Cartel. Rather than help the United States with arrests and extraditions, Shenbaum publicly claimed that there was no evidence of wrongdoing on Rocha Moya’s part. Despite being a wanted fugitive, the Sinaloa governor continues to live in Mexico and is allegedly being provided with military protection.

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Military Contractor’s Spy Aircraft Quietly Flying Southern Border On Mysterious Mission

The Pentagon says it does not discuss contractor support to particular missions. The gear aboard mimics cell towers.

Private military contractor Metrea has spent months quietly operating two surveillance-equipped aircraft along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the Arizona Mirror.

The planes have traversed Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, circling at high altitude over border cities including Bisbee and Douglas in Arizona, and Laredo and El Paso in Texas.

Metrea holds multiple contracts with the U.S. military, including a $5.7 million award to support training for U.S. Special Operations Command. The company also conducts simulated training missions for the Marine Corps.

It performs comparable border work overseas, providing what it describes as advanced aerial surveillance to the Australian government for monitoring that country’s border regions.

Arizona Mirror reports:

One of the major pieces of equipment installed on the aircraft is a DRT 3300, also sometimes referred to as a “dirtbox.” A dirtbox is a piece of equipment that mimics a cell phone tower and acts in a similar manner to “stingray” devices that track cell phones and reportedly can even intercept messages.

It isn’t the only equipment on the aircraft meant for “signals intelligence” either. Signals intelligence refers to the collection of information that is transmitted through the airwaves such as radio, wifi or other electronic means. One of the aircraft lists a “Windjammer System” as a piece of equipment that has been installed.

The Trump administration declined to say what the aircraft are doing over the border, or which agency they are working for.

A DHS spokesperson told the Mirror that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Protection were not flying with Metrea along the southern border. The department did not answer whether the flights support a DHS or a Defense Department mission.

“The Department of War contracts with a number of companies, including Metrea, to provide capabilities in support of military operations across the globe. For operations security reasons, we do not discuss specific contractor support to particular missions or operations,” a Defense Department spokesperson wrote in a statement to the Arizona Mirror. “These activities are governed by Attorney General approved procedures that ensure the activities are conducted in a manner that protects the constitutional and legal rights and the privacy and civil liberties of U.S. citizens.”

Metrea did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Meanwhile, Metrea’s are not the only contractor aircraft working the border. The Mirror reports that a jet belonging to Tenax Aerospace, equipped with high-end mapping technology and previously spotted over the South China Sea and Nigeria, has flown the same route since July.

Civil liberties advocates contend that the secrecy itself is the problem.

“Whatever security rationales are used to justify mass surveillance, whether it is patrolling the border or pursuing the war on drugs, if you’re intent on pursuing those policies you have to do it in a way that respects the privacy and constitutional rights of Americans,” said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, in a statement to the Arizona Mirror.

“Number one, you need policies that ensure transparency so we know what government agencies are doing with the brand new powers that technology is giving them that humans have never had in history,” Stanley added. “No matter what your position is, you should agree that it is done in the democratic process and not done by government officials behind closed doors.”

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Nevada man pleads guilty to providing 140 firearms to drug trafficking organizations in Mexico

From April 1, 2020, to September 17, 2025, Osorio conspired with co-defendants to purchase firearms, magazines and ammunition on behalf of people affiliated with drug trafficking organizations in Mexico.

The 140 firearms purchased by Osorio included multiple large-caliber and long-range firearms.

Osorio also admitted to harboring people who unlawfully resided in the United States to employ them at a Nevada mining company, according to the DOJ.

“Trafficking military-style firearms and ammunition to drug trafficking organizations in Mexico fuels violence, strengthens criminal networks and threatens communities on both sides of the border,” said Jonathan Sherwin, Deputy Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) Las Vegas.

“In the world of organized crime and drug trafficking, guns and drugs go hand-in-hand,” said David S. Olesky, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration Los Angeles Field Division, which also covers Nevada.

“Firearms trafficking networks feed the violent cartels that terrorize border communities and pump illicit drugs into our neighborhoods,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Sigal Chattah for the District of Nevada. “By cutting off this supply chain and holding this defendant accountable, we are directly disrupting the operational capabilities of these dangerous criminal organizations.”

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Mexico Arrests Former Governor for Alleged Cover-Up of 2014 Student Massacre

Authorities in Mexico arrested a former governor in connection with the cover-up of an infamous massacre where police forces kidnapped 43 education students during a protest. The police turned them over to cartel gunmen who are believed to have slaughtered them and disposed of their bodies.

The arrest took place on Wednesday afternoon in Mexico State when authorities arrested Angel Aguirre, who was the governor of Guerrero in 2014 at the time of the massacre. He is accused of helping to cover up the incident. Soon after the arrest, Mexico’s Attorney General Ernestina Godoy released a video on social media where she provided details of the case and what led authorities to move against Aguirre.

Known as the Ayotzinapa massacre, the kidnapping and murders happened in September 2014, when a group of student stole some buses to make their way to a protest. As Breitbart Texas reported, along the way, Mexican authorities shot at the buses and kidnapped the students, only to turn them over to a local cartel. The cartel gunmen then murdered the students and disposed of their bodies. The case sparked much controversy amid allegations of government cover-ups and false accounts of the students’ fate. In the 12 years since the massacre, only the remains of a handful have been located.

According to Godoy, the investigation into the case revealed that Aguirre ordered the destruction of evidence in the case that showed that Mexican police forces had been responsible for the initial kidnapping of the students. Godoy claimed that the surveillance cameras of the city hall in the town of Iguala captured the moment when police forces stopped a bus that the students had stolen and proceeded to kidnap them. During the investigation, government officials claimed there were no video recordings of the incident. The new investigation revealed that there was a video of the kidnapping.

As part of the investigation, authorities interviewed a cooperating witness who revealed that the videos from Iguala were taken by a government official and given directly to Aguirre. A second witness told authorities that during a meeting with high officials, Aguirre had ordered the destruction of any evidence that connected government officials with the kidnapping in Iguala.

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