• Eye on Texas: An Unwinnable Drug War

    I was born and raised in Mexico and lived at the Texas-Mexico border for eight years. As a professor at the University of Texas at Brownsville, now the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, I began to research Mexican organized crime groups that operate transnationally. Since 2009, I have studied illicit networks involved in U.S.-bound […]

  • Liberia senate votes to establish war crimes court

    The court will investigate crimes against humanity committed during the African country’s two civil wars between 1989 and 2003Senators in Liberia have voted overwhelmingly to establish a war crimes court, two decades after civil conflict ended in the west African country.The new court will investigate and try crimes against humanity and corruption committed during Liberia’s two civil wars between 1989 and 2003, which killed up to 250,000 people. Continue reading

  • Why I support Liberia’s War and Economic Crimes Court

    Yesterday, I signed the resolution to establish the Extraordinary War and Economic Crimes Courts for Liberia. Today, I voted ‘YES’ for the resolution during the sitting of the Liberian Senate – 18 years after the devastating civil war. My father, “Papa” as I called him, was killed along with three of my youngest siblings – []

    • CNN

    Ecuadorians head to polls for referendum as Noboa seeks backing for war on crime

    More than 13 million Ecuadorians are expected to head to the polls Sunday for a referendum dominated by security issues, in a vote that could shape the political future of President Daniel Noboa and his tough-on-crime agenda. Noboa, the son of a banana tycoon, swept into office last November as the youngest president in Ecuador’s history on the back of a promise to rein in the rampant crime that has transformed the once tranquil country into one plagued by violence and turf wars between drug...

    • KTVZ

    The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?

    By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press ARLINGTON, Wash. (AP) — When Washington state opened some of the nation’s first legal marijuana stores in 2014, Sam Ward Jr. was on electronic home detention in Spokane, where he had been indicted on federal drug charges. He would soon be off to prison to serve the lion’s share of

    • KEYT

    The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?

    The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?

    • WDTN

    The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?

    ARLINGTON, Wash. (AP) — When Washington state opened some of the nation's first legal marijuana stores in 2014, Sam Ward Jr. was on electronic home detention in Spokane, where he had been indicted on federal drug charges. He would soon be off to prison to serve the lion's share of a four-year sentence. A decade []

    • KIFI

    The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?

    By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press ARLINGTON, Wash. (AP) — A major argument for legalizing the adult use of cannabis after 75 years of prohibition was to stop the harm caused by disproportionate enforcement of drug laws in Black, Latino and other minority communities. But efforts to help those most affected participate in the newly legal

    • KTVZ

    The drug war devastated Black and other minority communities. Is marijuana legalization helping?

    By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press ARLINGTON, Wash. (AP) — When Washington state opened some of the nation’s first legal marijuana stores in 2014, Sam Ward Jr. was on electronic home detention in Spokane, where he had been indicted on federal drug charges. He would soon be off to prison to serve the lion’s share of

  • US Judge Tosses Out Lawsuits Against Libyan Commander Accused Of War Crimes

    A U.S. judge has tossed out a series of civil lawsuits against a Libyan military commander who used to live in Virginia and was accused of killing innocent civilians in that country’s civil war. At a court hearing Friday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema said she had no jurisdiction to preside over a case alleging […]

    • KTVZ

    US judge tosses out lawsuits against Libyan commander accused of war crimes

    By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A U.S. judge has tossed out a series of civil lawsuits against a Libyan military commander who used to live in Virginia and was accused of killing innocent civilians in that country’s civil war. A federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, ruled Friday that he had no

    • KIFI

    US judge tosses out lawsuits against Libyan commander accused of war crimes

    By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A U.S. judge has tossed out a series of civil lawsuits against a Libyan military commander who used to live in Virginia and was accused of killing innocent civilians in that country’s civil war. A federal judge in Alexandria, Virginia, ruled Friday that he had no