Mexico took down a drug lord. Can it take down his empire?
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 5 March 2026
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When the Mexican government took down a drug lord last week, the Sunday Times was there to document the aftermath. Does this mark a turning point in the war on drugs? Or are things about to get much worse?
A warning that this episode contains descriptions of graphic violence.
Our listener survey is live - find it here.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory
Guest: Louise Callaghan, Americas correspondent, The Sunday Times.
Host: Rosie Wright.
Producer: Micaela Arneson.
We want to hear from you - email: thestory@thetimes.com
Read more: A cartel boss is dead, but normal Mexicans always pay the price
Further listening: The town ripped apart by Mexico’s new narcos
Clips: BBC, WMTW, Configo FN, Fox News, Al Jazeera, Noticias Telemundo, Reuters.
This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, this is Luke. I would like you to do something for me, please. Ask not what your |
| 0:06.1 | favourite news and current affairs podcast can do for you, but what you can do for your favourite |
| 0:10.2 | news and current affairs podcast. It says here we have our first ever listener audience survey. |
| 0:16.7 | Pause for gasps of wonder. Let us know what you think of this podcast. What makes you listen? |
| 0:22.0 | What makes you turn off? What is the ideal length of episode to the nearest second? Can you even tell that Manveen and I coordinate our outfits? |
| 0:29.2 | Fill out the survey, please. There is a link in the description of this episode. Thank you. |
| 0:36.6 | From the Times and the Sunday times, this is the story. |
| 0:40.6 | I'm Rosie Wright. |
| 0:44.8 | I'm in a busy square in the middle of Guadalajara, which is one of Mexico's biggest cities. |
| 0:51.0 | And it's almost sunset. |
| 0:53.4 | There's families walking around, |
| 0:55.8 | people selling food on the streets. |
| 0:58.7 | But just a few days ago, it was completely empty. |
| 1:03.0 | Louise Callaghan is the America's correspondent for the Sunday Times. |
| 1:07.2 | She was in Mexico last week when the news broke |
| 1:10.3 | that the military had killed a major drug lord. |
| 1:14.3 | El Mento was the leader of the Halisco New Generation Cartel. |
| 1:18.4 | He was shot in a dawn raid and died from his injuries. |
| 1:21.6 | The reaction from his cartel has been immediate and violent. |
| 1:26.2 | We saw men with masks on, guns in their hands, |
| 1:32.7 | stopping vehicles, pulling them out of their vehicles, |
| 1:35.8 | and then lighting those vehicles on fire. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Times, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Times and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.