Mexico violence

NACOZARI, Mexico — It was a family people took pity on, one the government and church helped with free food, used clothes, and farm animals. The men were known as trash pickers. Some of the women were suspected of prostitution.

Carnival Cruise Lines says it has suspended a guided nature hike in the jungle near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, after 22 guests were robbed by hooded gunmen.

MEXICO CITY — He was the face of Mexico’s federal government, the chief public servant carrying a message to stay tough and bringing new offensives to states beleaguered by drug violence.

MEXICO CITY -- The mayor of Monterrey is feeling the squeeze. His brother is in police custody. His own party wants him to step down. And the horrific fire that killed 52 people in a casino in his city last month has become fodder for some election-season mudslinging.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Officials with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration say they took down several bosses from the Sinaloa Cartel in a move they say "decimated" a Utah-based cell of the Mexican crime ring.

DALLAS -- Twenty-three-year-old Magdala Gonzalez left her beloved hometown of Monterrey, Mexico, in search of a good job and safe surroundings. She found them in Fort Worth, Texas, where she is an intern at Telemundo TV station.

Her job is temporary, but she hopes to return after finishing her bachelor's degree at Tec de Monterrey.

"My family and I have talked about moving here," she said. "They came to visit in February for a month. They were impressed at how everyone goes out with no fear of being robbed or shot. They're hoping that I can graduate and get a job here."

Gonzalez is part of a growing exodus of middle- and upper-income residents of northern Mexico who have uprooted themselves and moved to the United States to escape the violence engulfing parts of their homeland, according to a study by students at four universities led by the University of Texas at El Paso. And their destinations extend well beyond border cities.

The investigation into a federal operation that allowed Mexican drug cartels to acquire U.S. weapons escalated Thursday with new revelations that an Arizona gun dealer repeatedly expressed fears that his guns were falling into the "hands of the bad guys" but was encouraged by federal agents to continue the sales.

A series of emails released by congressional investigators showed that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives encouraged the gun dealer against his better judgment to sell high-powered weapons to buyers he believed were agents for the drug cartels.