Ildefonso Ortiz

A former Sinaloa Cartel operator turned social media influencer died Saturday evening after a lone gunman barged into his home and shot him multiple times. The influencer’s murder is believed to be tied to the ongoing turf war between rival factions of the Sinaloa Cartel, which has spilled onto social media and already led to the murder of at least six influencers. | Border / Cartel Chronicles

A new controversy spread in Mexico as two sons of the country’s former President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) are allegedly being tied to a large-scale cartel-connected fuel theft and smuggling network. | Border / Cartel Chronicles

A group of migrants in southern Mexico clashed with immigration officials as they tried to round up women and children and take them to a shelter instead of having them spend the night in a park. The members of the caravan claim not to be headed for the U.S.-Mexico border but to Mexico City instead, with hopes of getting legal status to stay in that country. | Border / Cartel Chronicles

The majority owner of the Miss Universe pageant, Raul Rocha, is the current target of an organized crime probe in Mexico, where the businessman is alleged to have taken part in weapons trafficking for the Gulf Cartel and illegal fuel trafficking. | Border / Cartel Chronicles

Last month, a group of cartel gunmen stormed a mining camp, kidnapped ten employees of a Canadian mining company, and are believed to have murdered them. So far, authorities have been able to identify five of the bodies found in a clandestine mass grave. | Border / Cartel Chronicles

An ongoing controversy in South Texas involving numerous death threats in schools, inaction by the administration, and attempts to cover it up has been growing as more parents come forward claiming that their children are also victims. | Border / Cartel Chronicles

Mexico’s government is trying to prosecute a border state governor. Her crime -- working with U.S. agencies to fight drug cartels. | Border / Cartel Chronicles

Authorities in Mexico are keeping quiet about the discovery of a mass grave with four bodies, including two men from Chicago who were reported missing in May. | Border / Cartel Chronicles

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum is blaming Biden-era policies of the United States government for having helped set off the fierce turf war that followed. The turf war erupted after the split between the two main factions of the Sinaloa Cartel following the arrest of the fearsome cartel boss Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada. | Border / Cartel Chronicles

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has formally designated two more Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist cartels. The move brings the number to eight separate cartels that are considered to be Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the United States government. | Border / Cartel Chronicles