World

Mexico: The booming trade fuelling a US drug epidemic and a deadly street war

Published

3 years ago

May 4, 2023

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We barely slow for red lights as cars pull out of our way.

We virtually take off as we scream over a hilly stretch of road.

We’re on board a Red Cross ambulance answering an emergency call in the northern Mexican city of Tijuana. It’s one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

A two-person team, talking into the walkie-talkie, asks for details of the emergency.

“It’s a shooting,” paramedic Zulma Cruz tells me. “We get as many as a dozen a day sometimes,” she says as we see blue lights flashing in the distance and pass a National Guard vehicle with a soldier holding a machine gun, silhouetted against the night sky.

As we approach, what is now a crime scene as well as a medical emergency, I can see that the streets of one of the most cartel-infested neighbourhoods in this city are awash with police and military.

A second ambulance is surrounded by locals, watching on, and I can see ambulance teams inside treating a man who appears to be conscious.

“He is stable but critical,” Zulma tells me as she grabs an oxygen canister and her trauma pack and heads off to assist her colleagues.

Zulma is an experienced paramedic, who is used to the menacing presence of security forces and the stares of the local community, many of whom identify with or are part of the cartel.

This is another gangland assassination attempt – the patient has been shot in the head.

Three cartels are fighting for control over Tijuana – the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation, and the Tijuana Cartel.

There are over 2,000 murders a year here – that’s over six murders a day. To put that into perspective, in London last year just over 100 people were murdered.

It’s that crazy, and the Red Cross teams are the only ones capable of saving lives out here on the streets.

Zulma tells me that sometimes while she has been trying to save the lives of other victims of a hit, the cartel gunmen have approached her and told her to stop treatment.

Her Red Cross colleague, who didn’t want to be named, said the gunmen couldn’t be persuaded.

“That man dies here,” the gang member said, “then he shot him again,” her partner told me.

“We just had to walk away.”

I ask Zulma if she thinks a lot of this violence and chaos on the streets is linked to the growing fentanyl business.

“It definitely is, it definitely is,” she replies without hesitation.

“I think that it is linked to all that, the drugs, the cartels and fights for selling on the street, and sometimes they cross into each other’s turf…”

Another call for the Red Cross, this time for a fentanyl overdose.

Their medics carry the antidote to fentanyl poisoning – one of the most toxic drugs in the world.

Read more: Inside a secret fentanyl lab

It’s called Narcan, and it can save the lives of those who are almost dead.

They arrive on scene as the fire brigade administer first aid. Paramedic Alan Leon jumps out and gets ready to give the victim Narcan.

He briefly talks to the family gathered around the victim, unconscious on a pavement in a quiet residential area.

The man is completely unresponsive. His name is Juan, and he is dying.

Alan instructs a policeman holding a drip to raise it higher.

He then administers the Narcan directly into a cannula, and into the victim’s vein, while explaining to his emergency service colleagues what he’s doing.

They all wait. Time is critical and they’re hoping they’ve caught this victim in time.

Alan gently presses into Juan’s chest with his fist and tells everyone to wait.

He feels Juan’s chest again and then there is a sudden movement – the Narcan is working.

Moments later Juan sits up, utterly surprised, and grabs at the medical paraphernalia all around him.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” he says. It really is quite remarkable.

Alan tells him to wait a minute, and then gives him another shot of Narcan.

“It’s reversing the fentanyl,” he tells Juan.

After a few minutes, Juan stands up and leans against a vehicle parked nearby – he is talking, he’s shocked he’s alive.

His wife and young son, who had watched the whole scene unfold, hug him as he fist bumps our producer.

Fentanyl use, fentanyl trafficking, gang wars, death and murder – the ambulance crews see it all every day, and it’s all linked.

Tijuana’s red-light district is the most public location for the cartel wars and the use and sale of fentanyl on the streets.

It’s also a popular tourist hang out.

The gangs make a fortune from the drugs and sex industry here 24 hours a day, which is why they fight so hard to hold or take territory.

The area is constantly patrolled by police, the National Guard, and the Mexican army, who were deployed here last year to try to reduce homicides, and to fight organised crime.

We joined the Baja California State Police on one of their patrols through the district.

They told us the cartels don’t care what fentanyl does to people, they are interested in one thing only – money.

“They know what they’re doing, they know what they’re producing, they know the problems they cause selling the drugs, they know that people are becoming more addicted in this country, they know it’s a problem, but they don’t care, they only worry about their own interests,” an officer, who didn’t want to be named, told me.

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The cartels know Mexico’s security services have a huge presence in the city, but they taunt them anyway, by posting videos on social media platforms like TikTok, showing off their guns, drugs, and money.

“Many times it’s to send a message to the other organisations, sometimes it’s to send a message to the police officers that we can’t touch them, but we are fighting back against all these organisations… we try to stop them in all the conflict zones and arrest them,” the officer explained.

This district in Tijuana is ground zero for the fentanyl trade in Mexico, and the city is the gateway for drug and people smuggling over the border.

This trade is fuelling an illegal drug epidemic in the United States, and a street war inside Mexico.

World

Fierce battle for frontline towns where Ukraine’s soldiers are surrounded

Published

9 hours ago

November 23, 2025

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Fierce battle for frontline towns where Ukraine's soldiers are surrounded

Footage geolocated by Sky News showed Russian soldiers walking through the Shakhtarskyi neighbourhood on the outskirts of Pokrovsk on Thursday.

The video sheds light on the situation in this key frontline area, as Russian forces slowly encroach on Myrnohrad, the satellite town to Pokrovsk, and one of its last remaining outposts.

Videos geolocated by Sky News show fighting intensifying in recent weeks, as Russian forces attempt to gain control of the towns and their network of road and rail intersections.

Gaining control here would give Russia a base from which to access key cities further north that form part of Ukraine’s “fortress belt”.

Russian forces are advancing from all directions, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), with only one small opening to the northwest of Myrnohrad remaining.

Estimated to be only 3km wide by military experts, this withdrawal corridor is patrolled by Russian drone units which monitor the area for moving vehicles and those who may attempt to leave on foot.

Russian forces have been advancing on Myrnohrad since late October.

Video from a Ukrainian unit in Myrnohad, posted on 29 October, shows a Russian vehicle attempting to enter the town from the northeast. The tank is attacked and soldiers attempting to enter on foot are targeted.

Video posted on 3 November shows Russian forces on the ground in the south of the town.

By 8 November, Russian strikes begin to pummel the northeast of Myrnohrad, the location of many of the town’s high-rise buildings, at that time, held by Ukrainian forces.

George Barros, Russia Team & Geospatial Intelligence Team Lead at ISW, told Sky News that Russian strategy in Pokrovsk has been to erode Ukrainian logistical capacity using drones and artillery over the course of several months.

“After denying supply lines and degrading the frontline forces by essentially cutting them off from behind and starving them out in their positions, then the Russians move forward with their infantry and frontal assaults,” Barros explained.

Capture the flag

For a brief period, it looked as though Russian forces had captured Myrnohrad.

Videos posted on 13 November appeared to show a Russian flag flying over the Myrnohrad mine.

However, video posted the following day showed a Ukrainian drone shooting it down.

Both Russian and Ukrainian forces continue to fight for control of Myrnohrad, with videos posted on the 19 and 20 November showing Russian airstrikes on Ukrainian positions in the town, and Ukrainian drone strikes targeting Russian forces on foot.

While the exact numbers of Russian and Ukrainian forces in the area remains unclear, reports indicate that three key Russian units are active in Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, and are advancing on the towns from the north and south.

A number of Ukrainian units remain inside the towns, including the 145th Assault regiment and the 32nd, 35th, 38th and 155th Brigades. Reports indicate that more Ukrainian units have been moved into surrounding areas to hold the withdrawal corridor open.

Sky News reached out to the Ukrainian brigades still in Myrnohrad, but they declined to comment, citing military regulations.

Strategic significance

Natia Seskuria, associate international security fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), explained that the area is important for the Ukrainians to keep and the Russians to take because of its strategic position.

“Situated at a major road and rail intersection in Donetsk Oblast, Pokrovsk has functioned as a central artery for moving troops, equipment, and supplies to Ukrainian units deployed along the surrounding front.”

Russia “would gain a platform to redirect its offensive efforts toward Ukraine’s principal defensive urban centres… including Kramatorsk and Slovyansk,” Seskuria said.

Ukrainian and Russian soldiers in Pokrovsk have fought intensely and at close quarters over the last month.

In late October US-made Black Hawk helicopters containing specialist troops directed by Ukrainian military intelligence entered Pokrovsk to try to keep the town.

But as Russian troops advance, Myrnohrad is becoming the last stronghold of Ukrainian forces in the area.

Uncertain future

At least up until 12 November, there were still civilians living in Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, despite strikes on buildings in both cities.

A post made on that day by the Donetsk state regional administration estimated 1,200 people remain living in Pokrovsk and 900 in Myrnohrad.

Evacuation is only possible with the help of the military or police, and it is not clear how many have evacuated in the 11 days since.

Barros of ISW says gaining Pokrovsk would increase Russia’s leverage at the negotiating table.

“If the Russians can successfully convince enough international leaders that, okay, the Russians took Pokrovsk, they’re going to take the next thing, and they’re going take the thing, so now let’s negotiate, then that is a strategic victory for the Russians.”

Production by Michelle Inez Simon, Visual Investigations Producer.

The Data x Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

World

Torrential rain triggers deadly flooding and landslides in Vietnam

Published

9 hours ago

November 23, 2025

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Torrential rain triggers deadly flooding and landslides in Vietnam

Torrential rain, flooding and landslides has left more than 100 people dead or missing in Vietnam.

Rainfall has exceeded 74.8in (1.9 metres) in some parts of central Vietnam over the past week.

The region is a major coffee production belt and home to popular beaches, but it is also prone to storms and floods.

Fatalities have been reported in Dak Lak province and the neighbouring Khanh Hoa province.

Footage has been released by local police of a dramatic rescue, involving a drone which airlifted a stranded man to safety from an island in the middle of the Serepok River, Dak Lak province.

The government estimates the flooding has cost the economy around 8.98 trillion dong (£260m).

More than 235,000 houses were flooded and nearly 80,000 hectares of crops were damaged, Vietnam’s disaster agency said.

On Thursday, VietnamNet newspaper said that a suspension bridge on Da Nhim River in Lam Dong province had been swept away.

Video footage posted online showed the bridge being swallowed by the river in just a few seconds.

Naval forces have been deployed to help stranded citizens in Khanh Hoa, the Vietnam News Agency reported, adding that floodwaters had reached record highs in many areas.

Photos shared in state media reports showed residents, including children, sitting on the roofs of flooded houses in Khanh Hoa, Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces.

A seven-year-old girl was rescued late on Wednesday in Da Lat, the capital of Lam Dong province, after being buried by a landslide, the Nhan Dan newspaper reported.

The landslide, triggered by heavy rain, knocked down and buried part of the house where the girl was staying.

She was pulled out after an hour and a half and was taken to hospital with a broken leg, according to the report.

World

Several airlines cancel Venezuela flights after ‘hazardous situation’ warning

Published

9 hours ago

November 23, 2025

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Several airlines cancel Venezuela flights after 'hazardous situation' warning

Three international airlines have cancelled flights departing from Venezuela after a “potentially hazardous situation” warning.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Saturday issued an alert to airlines flying over the country, citing the “worsening security situation and heightened military activity in or around Venezuela“.

The US is poised to launch a new phase of operations related to the South American nation in the coming days, four US officials said.

The exact timing or scope of the operations, as well as whether President Donald Trump has made the final decision to act, have not yet been established.

Brazil’s Gol, Colombia’s Avianca and TAP Air Portugal cancelled their flights from the capital, Caracas, in north Venezuela, on Saturday, according to Flightradar24 and the official website of Simon Bolivar Maiquetia International Airport.

TAP Air Portugal confirmed it cancelled flights scheduled for Saturday and next Tuesday.

“This decision follows information issued by the United States aviation authorities, which indicates that safety conditions in Venezuelan airspace are not guaranteed,” the airline said.

The Trump administration has been considering Venezuela-related options to tackle what it has portrayed as President Nicolas Maduro’s role in supplying illegal drugs that have killed Americans.

Venezuela’s president has denied having any links to the illegal drug trade.

Mr Maduro, who is celebrating his 63rd birthday on Sunday and has been in power since 2013, has claimed Mr Trump is looking to oust him and that Venezuelan citizens and the military will rally against any such attempt.

Aeronautica Civil de Colombia said in a statement there were “potential risks” of flying in the Maiquetia area “due to the deterioration of security conditions and increased military activity in the region”.

Spain’s Iberia also said it was cancelling its flights to Caracas from Monday until further notice.

Reports of looming action have been growing in recent weeks as the US military has deployed forces to the Caribbean, amid heightened tensions with Venezuela. The Pentagon referred questions to the White House and the CIA declined to comment.

There has been a huge US military build-up in the region, including the US Navy’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R Ford, at least eight other warships, and F-35 aircraft.

The build-up in the Caribbean has been rumbling on for months, and Mr Trump has authorised covert CIA operations in Venezuela.

The US plans on Monday to designate the Cartel de los Soles, a Venezuela-based alleged criminal group, a foreign terrorist organisation for what the US sees as its role in importing illegal drugs into America, officials said.