Reports of disappearances are up 8 percent so far this year in El Salvador compared to 2011, calling into question the achievements of a gang truce which has slashed murders by some 60 percent in the last two months.
Honduras' government has said that the murder of journalist Alfredo Villatoro is a backlash by drug traffickers against the country allowing extradition to the US, though members of the country's press were the target of attacks well before the recent legislation.
Messages signed in the name of the Zetas have appeared in Mexico, denying that the group left 49 mutilated bodies on a roadside in Nuevo Leon, further muddying a case in which no one knows the identity of the victims, who killed them, or why.
Venezuela has demanded the US extradite a former judge who is now cooperating with US law enforcement, giving weight to the judge's accusations against high-ranking officials in the Chavez government.
In the latest outbreak of violence in Mexican border city Nuevo Laredo, 23 bodies were found on Friday accompanied by notes indicating that they were victims of a war between the Zetas, the Sinaloa and the Gulf Cartel.
Colombia's FARC rebel group have apparently released a statement saying that they are holding a missing French journalist as a prisoner of war, according to reports.
El Salvador saw an average of five murders a day in April, according to police statistics, down 58 percent from the same month last year, as a ceasefire between rival gangs apparently continues to hold.
Peruvian authorities have charged 19 members of the extended family of the Quispe Palomino brothers, who head the Shining Path rebel group, with laundering drug profits for the guerrillas.
A massive operation led by police agency Interpol against the trafficking of counterfeited goods across South, Central and North America indicates the prevalence of this illegal trade across the hemisphere.
Venezuelan authorities found more than 3.3 tons of cocaine at a port north of Caracas, apparently being shipped from Colombia to Mexico.
