Ioan Grillo

Recent Articles

How the Sinaloa Cartel Just Beat the Mexican Army

In Mexico’s big cities, drug cartel gunmen normally act like phantoms. They hide in safe houses or amid communities, suddenly striking with an assassination or a gunfight, and then disappearing again. Residents know they are...

By Ioan Grillo

The Migrant Caravan as Political Bandwagon

A thousand miles south of the Rio Grande, Lesly Xiomara Chirinos plodded along a Mexican road comforting her year-old son Murphy, her partner holding up an umbrella to shield them from the punishing sun. On...

By Ioan Grillo/Huehuetán, Mexico

'We Won't Be Broken.' Migrant Caravan Sets Sights on U.S.

"We have shown we are not scared"

By Ioan Grillo / Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico

Mexico's Leftists Celebrate Victory

The festivities on Sunday night were the culmination of a 30-year struggle by the Mexican left to win the presidency

By Ioan Grillo/Mexico City

The Populist of the Pueblos Gets Ready to Shake Up Mexico

When he played baseball in this steamy village where he grew up, the teenage Andrés Manuel López Obrador was known by his teammates as El Molido, or the Grinder, and is remembered for his ability...

By Ioan Grillo

Why Refugees Will Keep Coming to the U.S. Despite Trump's Crackdown

For thousands in the Northern Triangle of Central America, there is no easy choice

By Ioan Grillo/Tenosique

Where the Legend of El Chapo Was Born

As Joaquín Guzmán finally faces justice, America's war on drugs is also on the defense

By Ioan Grillo

Inside the Trial of Joaquin 'El Chapo’ Guzman, the World’s Most Infamous Drug Baron

When Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was born in the rugged village of La Tuna in Mexico’s Sierra Madre mountains in 1957, the houses were made of mud, there was no electricity or running water and...

By Ioan Grillo

His Mexico City Apartment Block Was Built Only Months Ago. So Why Did It Collapse So Easily?

Tuesday's 7.1 magnitude quake in Mexico sheds light on shoddily built new build apartments in the capital

By Ioan Grillo / Mexico City

225 Killed As Earthquake Rocks Mexico City

A first-hand account of the destruction

By Ioan Grillo / Mexico City

A TV Show About 'El Chapo' Guzman Is a Univision Hit, and It's Coming to Netflix

On May 5, Mexico’s most infamous drug trafficker sat in a blue jailhouse overall in a New York court, his beauty queen wife waving from the public seats.Presiding Judge Brian Cogan faced Joaquin “El Chapo”...

By Ioan Grillo / Mexico City

How Trump's Deportation Crackdown Could Sink El Salvador

Outside El Salvador’s international airport, families gather by a guard post to see their loved ones who have been deported by plane from the United States. Wearing a straw hat in the blazing sun, Elsa...

By Ioan Grillo / San Salvador

Mexicans Launch Boycotts in Fury at Trump

The digital image shows a clenched fist bathed in the red, white and green of Mexico’s flag and decorated with the nation’s emblematic eagle. “Consumers, to the Shout of War,” it says in Spanish above...

By Ioan Grillo / Mexico City

Mexico Braces Itself for Donald Trump's Presidency

The President-elect has said he'll scrap NAFTA, deport millions, and build a wall. How should Mexico react?

By Ioan Grillo / Toluca, Mexico

Mexico Wakes Up to President-Elect Trump Next Door

Trump has promised to build a wall on the border and deport undocumented immigrants

By Ioan Grillo/Mexico City

Peña Nieto’s Meeting With Donald Trump Angers Mexicans

Discontent over the meeting has been voiced by Mexicans across the spectrum

By Ioan Grillo / Mexico City

Requiem for Venezuela

How the nation with more oil than anywhere else in the world fell apart

By Ioan Grillo / Caracas

'The Country Is Sinking': A Q&A With Venezuelan Opposition Leader Henrique Capriles

'I fear there will be an explosion in Venezuela and it will finish collapsing'

By Ioan Grillo/Caracas and Jorge Benezra/Caracas

Inside the Hell of Venezuelan Police Prisons

20,000 inmates are being kept in prisons designed for just 5,000

By Ioan Grillo/Caracas and Jorge Benezra/Caracas

Venezuela's Murder Epidemic Rages On Amid Protests

Meeting the killers of Caracas as opposition to President Nicolas Maduro brings Venezuela to the brink

By Ioan Grillo / Caracas and Jorge Benezra / Caracas
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