Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org. I'm Ian Masters, and today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the killing of Belmenscho, the violent leader of the Holisco News Generation

Cartel by the Mexican military. The cartel has been designated as a terrorist organization

by the United States and 25 Mexican National Guardsmen were killed in the operation that saw violent

shootouts, roadblocks and the burning of vehicles by cartel gunmen across the country.

Joining us to discuss how killing a cartel leader does little to nothing to roll up the real

network of criminals, politicians and corrupt bankers is Guadalupe Correa Cabrera,

professor in the Scha School of Policy and Government and co-director of the Terrorism Transnational Crime and Corruption Center at George Mason University,

as well as a visiting scholar at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

She was recently the principal investigator of a

research grant to study organized crime and trafficking in persons in Central America and across

Mexico's eastern migration routes, supported by the Department of State's Office to

monitor and combat trafficking in persons. The President of the Association of

Borderland Studies, she's the author of Los Zetas Inc.,

criminal corporations, Energy and Civil War in Mexico, and Frontera, A Journey Across

the U.S.-Mexico border. And her forthcoming book is Cartels, Inc., a new generation of criminal

networks. Then we'll look into the alternatives to Trump's State of the Union tomorrow as more and more

senators and congress members plan to boycott the event to attend the People's State of the

Union in the mall.

Joining us is Robert Kramer, a longtime political organizer and democratic strategist, and author of Stand Up Straight,

How Progressives Can Win.

He is a partner at Democracy Partners, and his latest book is Nuts and Bolts, The Formula for

...