Free Republic

Kyle Kester loved the local people and the rugged landscape north of Guadalajara, where he had built a sprawling stucco home.Kyle Kester’s parents admit they weren’t thrilled when he built his dream home tucked in a rocky, secluded valley 18 miles north of Guadalajara. They worried for his safety in the isolated Mexican countryside where the nearest neighbor was a half-hour ride down a rutted dirt road, passable at times only by motorcycle, or whether the state-of-the-art 6,000-square-foot stucco house in a poverty-stricken land could make him a target for thieves, or worse. The 38-year-old Apple Valley native reassured his...

CANCUN, Mexico — Two masked men armed opened fire in a bar on the outskirts of the Mexican tourist resort of Cancun on Thursday, killing six people and wounding five, the office of the state's attorney general said. Public Safety Secretary Jesus Aiza says most of the victims belonged to a taxi drivers union. Aiza says the assailants arrived at "The Mermaid" bar in a poor area far from Cancun's hotel zone in two cars Thursday afternoon. He says two gunmen using automatic rifles went inside and began shooting.

A 41-year-old man was arrested after Polk County deputies said he kidnapped three children Sunday and forced one to perform a sex act on him. Javier Gonzales, of 1922 26th St., Winter Haven, was naked in his truck with the children when deputies found him about 11:40 p.m., deputies said. According to deputies: Gonzales visited a residence Sunday night where the children, ages 7, 7 and 10, were staying. He told the children he would take them to a family member. Gonzales left with the children about 9:30 p.m. without anyone knowing and drove them to an isolated area...

A U.S. Border Patrol agent is in custody for allegedly harboring illegal immigrants, including his father, in his San Ysidro, California, home, Fox5 San Diego reported Tuesday. Marcos Gerardo Manzano Jr., 26, was arrested Monday at the Imperial Beach Border Patrol Station, according to the FBI. Shortly before sunrise Tuesday, a federal SWAT team raided Manzano's house and arrested suspected undocumented immigrant Jose Alfredo Garrido-Morena, also 26. According to a complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court in San Diego Tuesday afternoon, Garrido-Morena had been living at the residence since at least November along with Manzano and the accused agent's 46-year-old...

ACAPULCO, Mexico – A spate of attacks on taxis in the Mexican resort city of Acapulco has left 12 taxi drivers or passengers dead, police said Sunday, just hours before the Mexican Open tennis tournament is scheduled to start.

Thugs working for Mexican drug cartels kidnapped the 12-year-old daughter of a ranch foreman in New Mexico, holding the girl for ransom until her family and neighbors came up with $80,000 for her release. They didn’t dare call law enforcement for help because of very real fears their calls would be monitored by the kidnappers using sophisticated communications relay stations erected on U.S. public lands. That was one of the most shocking stories four congressmen heard last week while visiting hot spots along the New Mexico, Arizona and Texas border, where specific American law enforcement officers are being targeted for...

The decapitated bodies of 15 young men have been found in the Mexican beach resort of Acapulco. Police said they were discovered near a shopping centre and were all aged between 15 and 25. They were dumped there by drug cartel members fighting over the control of the drugs business in the city. SNIP In this latest violent incident, police responding to a report of a burning vehicle near Acapulco's Plaza Senderos shopping centre shortly after midnight found five other abandoned vehicles and the decapitated bodies. Media reports say that three messages signed by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, leader of...