Mexican authorities lambaste Forbes for listing drug trafficker among the super-rich

News Thursday that Forbes magazine included one of Mexico's most-wanted drug traffickers Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on its rich list has prompted outrage from Mexican officials.

"I will never accept that a criminal could or would be recognized, even by a magazine like Forbes," said Atty. Gen. Eduardo Medina Mora, quoted in The News.

"In my country, [Guzman] is associated with a wave of violence in recent years ... and the death of many innocent people who have got caught in the crossfire of hit men."

Medina Mora said Forbes' inclusion of Guzman was "baseless" and lacking in "methodological rigor."

The News reports that other lawmakers in Congress echoed those sentiments Thursday.

Guzman was captured in Guatemala in 1993 and transferred to a maximum-security prison in Mexico, but he got tired of the life. Eight years after his incarceration, he paid guards to smuggle him out of the prison in a laundry truck. Read Tracy Wilkinson's report on sightings of Guzman in Mexico here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City.

Credit: Forbes.com

Mexican drug lord on Forbes list of richest, with $1 billion

Reuters reports that Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, who is blamed for thousands of deaths in the country's continuing drug war, has made it onto the Forbes magazine list of the world's richest people, with an estimated $1-billion fortune.

Forbes placed Guzman at 701 on its list, tied with dozens of others worldwide with riches of about $1 billion.

Our Tracy Wilkinson reported last year:

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexico's most-wanted drug-trafficking fugitive, chalks up more sightings than Elvis. He is everywhere, and nowhere, a long-sought criminal always a step ahead of the law, yet always in sight or mind.

A mythology has developed around Guzman, the commander of Mexico's most powerful narcotics network, the so-called Sinaloa cartel, named for the Pacific coast state that is the historic cradle of Mexican drug trafficking. Narcocorridos, popular songs about traffickers, lionize him.

Go here for the full Forbes rich list and here for our complete coverage of the drug wars in Mexico.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photojournalism show explains 2008 in Mexico

Mexico City's Museo de la Ciudad is playing host to a photojournalism exhibition -- Expofotoperiodismo -- that features nearly 50 photos from 2008. You can see some of the images featured in the show in the above slide show.

All images appear courtesy of the Museum de la Ciudad, and the show runs until April 19th.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Book review: 'The Accountant's Story,' a tale about narco baron Pablo Escobar, by his brother

If you speak a little Spanish and recently have spent a bit of time anywhere near the border, you've probably heard a narcocorrido, a ballad sung to danceable norteño-style music with lyrics that romanticize the drug trade, writes Tim Rutten in the Los Angeles Times book section.

Rutten writes that "The Accountant's Story: Inside the Violent World of the Medellín Cartel" is the literary equivalent of a narcocorrido -- "without the redeeming virtue of a catchy, polka-inflected beat."

The book's cover bears two additional subtitles: one informing us that this is "the true story of Pablo Escobar"; the other that the author, Roberto Escobar, is his brother.

But the reviewer is unimpressed with Escobar's account of his brother's cocaine empire which, according to Forbes magazine, accounted for 80% of the world's cocaine traffic:

This oddly flat and, frankly, repellent book is certainly not confessional and is, in fact, less a memoir than it is an apologia for the brother Roberto quite obviously admires still. Pablo's drift into criminality is, in his brother's mind, at least, the inevitable consequence of growing up poor and ambitious in a violent, underdeveloped society. The fact that hundreds of thousands of other young men growing up in similar circumstances didn't elect to better themselves by profiteering on misery and death is airily passed over; Pablo, after all, was 'a born leader.

Read the full review here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photo: A visitor tours a Colombian ranch once owned by Pablo Escobar. Credit: Luis Benavides / Associated Press

U.S. war on drugs has failed, report says

Tracy Wilkinson reports:

The United States' war on drugs has failed and will continue to do so as long as it emphasizes law enforcement and neglects the problem of consumption, a Washington think tank says in a report co-chaired by a former president of Mexico.

The former president, Ernesto Zedillo, in an interview, called for a major rethinking of U.S. policy, which he said has been "asymmetrical" in demanding that countries such as Mexico stanch the flow of drugs northward, without successful efforts to stop the flow of guns south. In addition to disrupting drug-smuggling routes, eradicating crops and prosecuting dealers, the U.S. must confront the public health issue that large-scale consumption poses, he said.

"If we insist only on a strategy of the criminal pursuit of those who traffic in drugs," Zedillo said, "the problem will never be resolved."

The indictment of Washington's counter-narcotics campaign comes in a report released this week by the Brookings Institution that advocates closer engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean. U.S. influence in the region has slipped dramatically during the eight years of the Bush administration, and the report suggests an incoming Democratic government led by Barack Obama can open opportunities for better ties and communication.

Read more of "U.S. war on drugs has failed, report says" here.

Go here for our "Mexico Under Siege" coverage.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

2 ex-gunmen from Tijuana drug cartel convicted of kidnapping

Sam Quinones reports:

Two former gunmen from the Tijuana drug cartel have been found guilty of kidnapping as part of a spree of attacks in San Diego County.

Jorge Rojas, 29, and Juan Gonzalez, 27, could face life in prison after their conviction Thursday by a San Diego County jury, said Mark Amador, the San Diego County prosecutor in the case.

The pair led a group known as Los Palillos (the Toothpicks) that focused its attacks on alleged associates of the Arellano-Felix drug-smuggling organization, which has controlled the flow of narcotics from Tijuana into Southern California for more than 15 years.

Read more of "2 ex-gunmen from Tijuana drug cartel convicted of kidnapping" here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photos: Juan Gonzalez, above left, and Jorge Rojas have been found guilty of kidnapping in San Diego County.

Mexico: Another drug shootout

Tracy Wilkinson reports:

The fourth corpse pulled from the bullet-shattered pickup truck didn't have the benefit of a body bag. Only the face was covered (with a useless bulletproof vest). The victim's red shirt was even redder, soaked with blood. His bare arm hung limply from a gurney as he was lifted to a wagon from the morgue, the toes of his boots pointed skyward, at odd angles. He was one of five federal and state police agents killed in a brazen shootout Wednesday night on Culiacan city's prominent Emiliano Zapata Boulevard.

The officers were ambushed by gunmen in three vehicles who opened fire at an intersection outside an enormous casino called Play. The shooters escaped. Police, emergency workers and soldiers converged on the scene, as the casino's blue and purple neon lights blinked garishly over the dead men slumped in the cab and bed of the pocked pickup.

In all, 10 people were killed in Sinaloa state during a 24-hour period ended Wednesday night, a deadly slice of the burgeoning Mexican drug war. Nationwide, more than 4,000 people have been killed this year, according to Mexican media reports, many of them law enforcement agents doing battle with powerful drug gangs.

Read the rest of "Another bloody night in Sinaloa, Mexico" here.

Go here for our running coverage of Mexico's drug wars: "Mexico Under Siege."

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photo: Family members of one of the slain state policemen console each other after seeing the pockmarked pickup the officers had been riding in when they were attacked in central Culiacan. The assailants, most likely cartel hitmen, escaped. At least 10 people died in the 24 hours ending Wednesday night in Culiacan, in Sinaloa state, which has become a hub of violence since the federal government launched a crackdown against drug gangs. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

U.S. ambassador to Mexico: Americans must accept responsibility for Mexico's drug-related problems

Tony Garza, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, called on the United States to recognize its responsibility in the fight against drug traffickers in Mexico.

"Mexico would not be the center of the cartel's activities, nor would it be experiencing these levels of violence, if it wasn't for the United States -- the major consumer of illegal drugs and the principal supplier of arms to the cartels."

"The United States and Mexico must fight organized crime together or we will fail together," said Garza, speaking at an event in Texas earlier this week.

Garza commended Mexican President Felipe Calderon for some of the measures he has taken to fight organized crime in the country, which include sending thousands of soldiers into the areas where the drug cartels have the tightest hold and making efforts to clean up corruption within the police force.

According to Milenio, Garza also commended outgoing U.S President Bush for having pushed the so-called Merida Initiative, which pledges $400 million in first-year funding to Mexico to aid its fight against organized crime.

Click here to go to our running coverage of the drug wars, "Mexico Under Siege."

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

500 police officers replaced in Tijuana; Interpol liaison officer arrested

The Times' Richard Marosi reports from Tijuana:

Mexican federal agents and army troops fanned out across this besieged border city Tuesday to replace 500 police officers, the latest move by the government to purge the troubled force of corrupt and incompetent cops.

Last week, 21 officers, including two deputy chiefs, were detained on suspicion of having ties to drug traffickers and flown to Mexico City for questioning by Mexico's anti-organized-crime unit.

The moves come as authorities struggle to control a brutal war among rival traffickers that has killed more than 300 people in Tijuana since late September and left residents wary of large swaths of the city.

Despite past purges, the 2,200-member police department is still viewed by many as an arm of the drug cartels.

Officers have been accused of working as lookouts, informants, hit men or bodyguards for drug smugglers, and scores of them have been killed over the years.

Read more of "500 police officers replaced in Tijuana" here.

Meanwhile, the main liaison for Interpol here in Mexico was placed under house arrest as part of an investigation into links between officials and drug traffickers.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Gangs in Ciudad Juarez threaten children

Things are apparently going from bad to worse in Mexico's Ciudad Juarez, according to the Dallas Morning News, which reports:

Elementary school teachers are the latest victims of an exploding extortion racket in the border city of Ciudad Juárez, as criminal gangs threaten educators to either hand over their coming Christmas bonuses or see harm done to their families or students, teachers' groups say.

With Monday a school holiday and news of the threats spreading in the media, on the Internet and by word of mouth during the long weekend, there were fears that an increasing number of parents would keep their children at home today, forcing additional schools to close.

At least two schools shut down early Friday because of a lack of students.

The extortion against teachers was the latest escalation of the violence and fear that have taken over the city across the border from El Paso.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City