La Familia

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, whose conservative party is lagging in national popularity amid soaring drug violence, may have a source of hope close to home: his sister. Luisa Maria Calderon, a 55-year-old former senator and the president's older sister, leads polls for governor of Michoacan state, where a victory Sunday could give their National Action Party, or PAN, a needed boost before next year's national elections. The western state, long a corridor for illegal drugs, has been hit hard by rising violence, stoking worry of election day bloodshed or turnout damped by voter fear.

Questions about the future are percolating at F. Gavina & Sons Inc., a family-run coffee company in Vernon. The same is true at Pasadena-based Liborio Markets, which is run by two generations of the Alejo clan: Enrique and his sons, John and Rick. Like hundreds of other businesses across Southern California, these so-called ethnic family companies are thriving. Gavina, for example, has just moved into a new headquarters and roasting plant, bringing seven operations together in one building.

Mexican authorities Tuesday said they had arrested a regional boss of La Familia drug gang, which dominates the western state of Michoacan with violence and a cult-like authority. The trafficking group recently hung banners suggesting a truce with Mexican government forces, but authorities dismissed the move as a ploy and said they wouldn't negotiate anyway. Federal police said the man arrested Monday, Jose Alfredo Landa Torres, was recently named to head La Familia's operations in the state capital, Morelia.

Three men were being held as possible suspects in the fatal grenade attack this week on an Independence Day celebration in the western state of Michoacan, authorities said Thursday. Two were detained in northern Zacatecas state late Wednesday after being hospitalized with injuries from a car crash. The third, who had been in the same crash but was released from the hospital, was arrested Thursday afternoon in Zacatecas.

I'm more than a little nervous as we drive down the dirt road through the dilapidated white stucco gates that lead to the Akumal Club Caribe. The place doesn't look like any resort I've ever seen, much less one that is rumored to be the latest mecca for in-the-know vacationing American families.

The callers to the radio program were voicing their support for the Matazetas, the Zeta killers. Better they fight among themselves. Let them kill each other. Anything to rid us of the thugs who long ago took control of our city and are slaughtering our people. It is a sign of the desperation and deep outrage over surging drug-war violence that a shadowy group of vigilante killers is not only tolerated but welcomed by many here in Mexico's third-most populous state. Full coverage: The drug war in Mexico Yet it also comes with a disturbing question: Just who is behind the killings of Zetas — another drug gang?

Maybe Jay-Z should have waited a little longer to release his new album. Only 10 months after issuing his fourth collection, the Brooklyn rapper returns with an album that lacks the punch usually associated with this supreme lyricist. While his last two albums included spectacular singles, "The Dynasty" is essentially a collection of album cuts. The strongest work comes when Jay-Z and his colleagues explore the heartbreak accompanying damaged or broken relationships.

When the Grammy award nominations were announced last week, chances are that the first question to cross many peoples' lips was not "who's up for best Mexican-American performance, vocal or instrumental?" Yet the influence of this music is present in Pam Tillis' border-flavored English-language single, "Mi Vida Loca" (My Crazy Life) among the entries for best female country vocal performance.

Mexican security forces swept into President Felipe Calderon's home state of Michoacan on Tuesday and arrested a total of 27 mayors and other government officials, the largest operation to target politicians in Mexico's bloody drug war. The officials, including 10 mayors, are being investigated for alleged ties to drug traffickers and other organized crime syndicates that in effect control large sections of Michoacan, the federal attorney general's office said. Michoacan Gov.

When 35 mayors, prosecutors, police chiefs and other officials in the state of Michoacan were hauled into jail and accused of taking bribes from a cartel last year, it looked as if the federal government was finally attacking the political collusion that has long nurtured the drug gangs. But instead of heralding a bold new front in Mexican President Felipe Calderon's 4-year-old drug war, the case has turned out to be an embarrassing example of how that offensive is failing. More than a year later, the prosecution is in ruins.