Even as cartel carnage continues to cast a shadow, Californians’ favorite Mexican escape is turning up the heat on its tourism tax. A fee that has already pushed this vacation paradise out of “bargain” territory isn’t just sticking around — it’s skyrocketing. The government of Baja California Sur, which includes popular destinations like Los Cabos, … Read more
Following an operation that killed the leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, “El Mencho,” a revolt broke out in Mexico by cartel members — causing chaos across popular tourist areas in the country Sunday. The US State Department has issued shelter in place orders while airlines have canceled flights due to ongoing … Read more
In January 1981, Marta Falcon, mother of “Cocaine Cowboy” Willy Falcon, was kidnapped with a $500,000 ransom demanded for her release, as T.J. English explains in “The Last Kilo: Willy Falcon and the Cocaine Empire That Seduced America” (William Morrow, out now). For Falcon, the head of Miami’s Los Muchachos drug traffickers, the money was … Read more
Sometimes, when busting up a Mexican drug cartel, you follow the cocaine. Other times you follow the cash. But for one particularly impactful investigation, law enforcers followed the horses. The equines in question were quarter horses, which, among America’s cowboys and Mexico’s vaqueros, are not unlike thoroughbreds. They compete in quarter mile races. Fans bet on … Read more
It came to blows. “America’s Got Talent” judge Heidi Klum was miffed with her co-judge Sofía Vergara after she failed to cast Klum in her Netflix mini-series “Griselda.” “I was upset because I was like, ‘Why couldn’t I have been one of your cousins?’ I could have been a cousin that doesn’t speak, because obviously I don’t … Read more
If you think seeing a total eclipse of the sun will be a cheap thrill, you’re mistaken. On Monday April 8, the US will experience its first total eclipse since 2017 — and the cost to witness it is already soaring. The “zone of totality,” where you can see the sun vanish completely, goes from … Read more
Pablo Escobar’s hippos are on their way to “El Chapo’s” homeland in a mission more daring than either man’s drug smuggling. Ten of the animals are to be flown from Antioquia, Colombia, where the drug lord established a herd on his ranch, to another cocaine stronghold — in Sinaloa, the Mexican province which was home to … Read more