Mexico

Through the jungle towards the sea, on a day of intense sunshine and tropical rain. A mosaic of fallen leaves decorates our path and, somewhere, a peacock is cawing. All is cloaked in an agreeable humidity. Britain is a 12-hour flight away — and hurrah for that. We come upon a clearing of neat lawn, beyond which a thatched hut is offering refreshments. We pause to examine the menu at this simple wayside halt. Yes, they really are serving Kobe beef cheeseburgers at £34 a bun and a bottle of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti for £21,329. A ragged youth with a rucksack passed this way once. More than a quarter of a century ago, I spent a couple of months travelling down Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, through Belize and into Guatemala. White sands: The Yucatan coast with its tropical white sand beach and turquoise sea  My budget was tight, and the rooms in which I stayed were often squalid stalls. I dined on rice and beans at roadside shacks, swam in forest rivers, glimpsed … [Read more...] about Bravo, Mexico! Ancient temples, tropical jungles and deserted beaches – the dazzling Yucatan peninsula has it all

Jose Arredondo, the father of K-Pop star, Samuel, has been found 'beaten to death' in Mexico. He was 58.  Prosecutors in the Mexico resort town of San Jose del Cabo say they are investigating Arredondo's death.  A US State Department official confirmed the death: 'We are closely monitoring local authorities' investigation into the cause of death.'  The Baja California Sur state prosecutors said Tuesday they were called to a condominium after someone reported a dead body.  Authorities said the body 'showed signs of blunt force trauma'. Jose Arredondo (left), the father of K-Pop star, Samuel (right), has been found 'beaten to death' in Mexico. He was 58. Authorities are investigating the murder that occurred during a suspected home invasion  Video courtesy of KERO No suspects have been identified at this time, investigators said.  Arredondo was the owner of the Family Motors Auto Group in Bakersfield, California and Fresno Buick GMC. A family friend … [Read more...] about Father of K-pop star is found ‘beaten to death’ in Mexico after a suspected home invasion

At least 13 police officers were killed and three injured on Monday by gunmen in the western state of Michoacán, a region where violence attributed to organized crime has spiked in recent months. The state police officers had gone to a home in the town of El Aguaje in Aguililla municipality to enforce a judicial order when “several armed civilians fired on them”, Michoacán’s state security department said in a statement. After the attack, the area in western Mexico’s so-called “hot lands” was reinforced by federal and state security forces, who installed checkpoints to find the assailants. Michoacán, an important avocado-growing state, has seen a spike in violence that has brought back memories of the bloodiest days of Mexico’s war on drug cartels between 2006 and 2012. In August, police found 19 bodies in the town of Uruapan, including nine hung from a bridge. Later, an area roughly 45 miles north of Aguililla was the scene of … [Read more...] about Attack in western Mexico leaves more than a dozen police killed

The merciless dogfight between Mexican drug cartels has produced its latest macabre spectacle with the discovery of 19 mutilated corpses – nine of them hung semi-naked from a bridge – in a city to the west of the capital. The massacre, in Uruapan 250 miles from Mexico City, was claimed by the increasingly dominant Jalisco New Generation cartel which posted a large white banner beside the dangling bodies of its victims. “Lovely people, carry on with your routines,” it read, beneath the group’s capitalised red initials, CJNG. At least 10 other dismembered and bullet-riddled bodies were reportedly found dumped in two nearby locations. Michoacán state’s attorney general, Adrián López Solís, blamed the killings on a clash between rival cartels battling for control of the region’s drug trade. Troops were being mobilized to investigate the crimes and catch the killers, he said. Falko Ernst, an International Crisis Group researcher … [Read more...] about Mexico cartel hangs bodies from city bridge in grisly show of force

A recreational league soccer match in Mexico City has ended in tragedy after one of the players was shot dead. Witnesses told the police that the victim, identified only as Carlos, was sitting alongside his teammates during the championship game's halftime interval, when two male suspects shot him at the Magdalena Mixhuca Sports City. According to Mexican outlet El Grafico, the assailants arrived near the pitch on a red motorbike at approximately 11.30am. One of the men subsequently withdrew a gun with a silencer to fire multiple shots at Carlos, who was in his 40s, while his accomplice stood by brandishing his weapon. WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT A man identified as Carlos (pictured) was shot dead during a soccer match in Mexico City on Sunday before his assailants escaped on a motorcycle Sunday morning's deadly shooting at a recreational league soccer championship match took place on the site of the old Olympic Park that hosted the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games The gunman struck … [Read more...] about Gunman on motorcycle unleashes hail of gunfire on a soccer match in Mexico City leaving one player dead