At the top of Ecuadoran President GUillermo Lasso's priorities is securing help in battling drug cartels that have waged open warfare in his nation's streets and prisons.

A mother who was searching for her disappeared child was allegedly shot and killed in Mexico.

Criminal cartels in Mexico are using social media to recruit U.S. citizens to assist with their smuggling operations at the southern border.

Officials pointed out that these types of firearms were made to target the Mexican market, and used such marketing strategies to cater to specific firearms consumer groups.

Children in the area have only attended primary school as attending secondary school would mean leaving the security of their community. 

Mexican federal police say they were attacked after responding to calls of tractor trailers set on fire and blocking a highway in the state.

The news came just a few days before Mexico's president visited the state of Tamaulipas, which has seen a wave of violence in recent months.

The Knights Templars look to iron ore. The Zetas have their hand in everything.

Families from around Mexico took part in the third March for Dignity in Mexico City to demand a search of their missing children.

Anonymous DEA officials told Proceso recently that a growing heroin market in the United States was due to decreased cooperation between Mexican and American drug authorities, which had shared intelligence to an unprecedented degree under the Calderón administration.

Authorities in Coahuila state made a grisly discovery over the weekend. It's as yet unclear how many people the remains belong to.

Dr. José Manuel Mireles, head of a general counsel of self-defense militias in the southwestern Mexican state of Michoacán, clarified statements made in an earlier video in which he appeared to express support for the Mexican Army's disarmament of the militias.

At least two people are reported dead after autodefensa members in Nueva Italia refused to be disarmed by the Mexican army.

According to El Universal, the DEA cut deals with the Sinaloa cartel for information on rival gangs, without the knowledge of Mexican authorities.

A group of residents of towns in Mexico's Tierra Caliente burned delivery trucks and blocked highways into the town of Parácuaro, which is held by self-defense militias, in an effort to push the militias out. The "autodefensas" say the residents are linked to narcos.

Mexican authorities say they swept a series of hospitals in Jalisco and Colima after receiving a tip from the DEA that El Chapo was interned after suffering an infarct.

Guzmán's Sinaloa cartel may be in the midst of contesting the Beltrán Leyva syndicate for control of drug trafficking in Mexico City.