Drug Lord Arrest

Mexican police have arrested a US citizen accused of being a key figure in a major drug cartel based in the border city of Tijuana.

Gustavo Rivera Martinez was responsible for the logistics of smuggling drugs to the US and laundering the proceeds, Mexico's interior minister said.

He is wanted by the FBI and the US Drug Enforcement Agency which offered a $2m (£1m) reward for his capture.

Mr Rivera Martinez would be sent back immediately to the US, officials said.

"This individual is one of the criminals most sought after by the DEA and FBI," said Mexican Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino.

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Importance: This arrest puts another dent in the Arellano Felix drug cartel. The measures taken against drug trafficking have been helpful in taking out this cartel at least; however, other cartels are gaining momentum, and the government still has a lot ahead of it before it achieves the freedom from drug crime and violence that it seeks.

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UPDATE 2 ON POLLICE BOMBING

MEXICO CITY – Drug traffickers from outside Mexico City ordered the assassination of a top city police commander and contracted local cocaine distributors to carry out the botched bombing attempt early this month, authorities said Wednesday.

Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said in a TV interview that the drug hit was planned in retaliation for a series of police raids against drug cartel cells in the capital and the seizure of assault rifles, grenades and shoulder-fired rockets designed to penetrate armored vehicles.

Investigators don't know yet which drug cartel was behind the attack, the mayor said.

Both the Sinaloa cartel based in northern Mexico and the Gulf cartel that operates along the Mexico-Texas border are believed to have lost important operatives and weapons in the seizures, analysts and authorities have said.

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Importance: This is most likely the last story in this horrible situation. Finally, we find out that the attack was in response to numerous raids on drug cartels in Mexico City. Better yet, the attack was carried out by local cocaine dealers. The alleged men mentioned in the previous update were likely the ones who carried out the attack. However, the men behind the attack have not been identified and it is likely they will not be identified any time in the near future.

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New Justice System

Mexican legislators are expected today to overhaul the country's famously ineffective justice system, implementing public trials nationwide while turning up the heat on organized crime.

The long-awaited "justice reform" bill — the result of several years of fierce debate among security experts, academics and human rights activists — would amend the constitution to include the presumption of innocence and other guarantees. It would also provide alternatives to jail for minor crimes, in an attempt to reduce overcrowding in Mexican prisons.

Many of the new rights, however, would not apply to suspected members of the criminal mafias, who could be held for up to 40 days without charges. The bill would also insert in the constitution a liberal definition of "organized crime" as "a group of three or more people formed with the intention of repeatedly breaking the law."

The bill's supporters say such tough measures are needed to combat the narcotics gangs, whose bloody feuds killed more than 2,000 people last year, including dozens of police and soldiers.

"In this moment when organized crime is tearing Mexico apart, we can't protect the criminals," said Juan Francisco Rivera, a legislator from northern Nuevo Leon state, one of the cartels' bloodiest battlegrounds. "We have to give the police and security agents tools so they can take immediate action."

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Importance: So Mexico is changing their justice system to one similar to the U.S. which will operate under innocent until proven guilty, as opposed to its current system which runs more as guilty until proven innocent. The question is whether the proposed reform will help cut down on organized crime, as many hope it will, or push Mexico closer to becoming a police state with the amount of leeway it is giving police and military in times of "imminent danger."

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