That Mexico should figure prominently in the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)’s public summary of its drug threat assessment is not surprising. What does catch the eye is the fact that it foresees increases in the supply of all the drugs that Mexico produces, and a possible continuing decline in only one – cocaine - for which Mexico acts only as a conduit. The DEA’s 2013 National Drug Threat Assessment Summary (NDTAS) was made public on 18 November. As a 28-page summary it is somewhat short on the statistical underpinning of its conclusions. It is also cautious when it comes…

While business associations accuse the autodefensas (‘self-defence’ groups) of Michoacán’s Tierra Caliente area of being funded by drug-traffickers and the army and federal police of colluding with them, the autodefensas claim that the government of the state colludes with the Caballeros Templarios (LCT). These exchanges of accusations come after the autodefensas announced that they had reached an understanding whereby they would cease hostilities against the LCT in the regional hub of Apatzingán in exchange for military and police action against the LCT there. The LCT had been holding Apatzingán in a tight grip, barring the access to its hospital and…