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Life amid Mexican cartels | Forced labour fight in South Korea

A deadly armed kidnapping in Matamoros, Mexico involving four American tourists has shone a bright light on the Gulf Cartel — but for locals, it was business as usual.

Four American tourists were caught in a drug cartel shootout last week

CBC News ·
Two armed trucks are pictured on a road in Mexico moving towards the U.S. border.
National Guard and military vehicles take part in an operation to transfer two of the four US citizens kidnapped in Mexico's crime-ridden northeast, back to Brownsville in the US, after the other two were found dead, in Matamoros, Tamaulipas State, Mexico, on March 7, 2023. (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

A deadly kidnapping in Matamoros, Mexico had international media breathlessly reporting every shocking twist: first, four American tourists were kidnapped, then two were murdered, and finally the cartel allegedly involved sent out a written apology letter.

But for the locals of the long cartel-held city, it was business as usual except for just one thing: the Americans were actually found. We'll hear what life alongside the Gulf Cartel is really like and the complex relationship between the community and these criminal organizations.

A group of people hold up signs with slogans written in Korean hangul as part of a mass protest.
South Korean lawmakers and protesters hold placards during an anti-government rally denouncing South Korea's plans to compensate victims of Japan's forced wartime labour, at the National Assembly in Seoul on March 7, 2023. (Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty Images)

Plus, protests erupted in South Korea last week over the government's new plan to use the country's own funds to pay for the harm caused to people who were forced to work in factories and mines during Japanese occupation from 1910-1945. We'll get into why this dispute has persisted for so many decades why South Koreans are still dealing with colonial scars today.

Featuring:

  • Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, political science professor and author of Los Zetas Inc.: Criminal Corporations, Energy, and Civil War in Mexico.
  • Michelle Ye He Lee, Tokyo and Seoul bureau chief for the Washington Post.

Nothing is Foreign, a podcast from CBC News and CBC Podcasts, is a weekly trip to where the story is unfolding. It's hosted by Tamara Khandaker.

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