In Mexico.

Violent clashes between rival Mexican criminal groups – and their alleged allies in the security forces – are escalating ahead of mid-term elections in June, triggering a string of political assassinations and the forced displacement of thousands.

State and federal security forces have actively colluded with – and even fought alongside – the warring factions, according to local civilians, civil society activists and gunmen from various factions.

But as well as engaging in pitched gun battles, criminal factions are also confronting each other on the electoral field.

“All the [criminal] groups are trying to make gains right now,” said a Michoacán political consultant with first-hand knowledge of how arrangements are brokered between organized crime and political candidates.

In Venezuela.

Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro, has managed to stay in power for eight years despite remaining profoundly unpopular, overseeing a spectacular economic collapse and facing years of opposition efforts to dislodge him. There’s little doubt Maduro has outplayed his opponents, and yet, his hold on the country is more tenuous than it seems.

The democratic opposition has indeed failed to remove him. But under Maduro, Venezuela is increasingly becoming a land of militias, warlords and criminal gangs. As they gradually divide the country into fiefdoms, the state’s footprint is steadily shrinking. The government’s sway beyond the capital city is significantly less than one might expect in a country whose regime has monopolized political power. …

In Colombia.

The port city of Buenaventura, on Colombia’s Pacific coast, has long been infamous as the “capital of horror”, with a history of brutal killings and “casas de pique”, or chop houses, where bodies were dismembered and dumped in the sea.

More here.  And here.

And from Portland, Oregon.

A disabled war veteran in Portland said he was hospitalized for serious injuries after a group of Black Lives Matter (BLM) agitators attacked and beat him last week.

Joe Hall, 53, said that BLM protesters allegedly armed with rifles surrounded his car when he exited his work truck, Fox 12 in Portland reported. Hall said he was driving through the area after finishing a job to his next one, and the crowd stopped his work truck as they blocked the road—a common tactic used by the Marxist group.

“All of a sudden these agitators come out, screaming, pounding on my truck,” Hall told the Fox station, adding that when he tried to drive around the group, he stopped because he thought he hit something with his vehicle.

“By this time I’ve got five people surrounding my vehicle, AR-15s, AK-47s,” Hall, who served in the Marine Corps and Army, recalled. “I pulled my .38 out of my right pocket and pointed it at the ground and told them if a weapon points at me again, I will shoot to eliminate the threat.”

Hall said that someone then tackled him and grabbed his pistol before the group started kicking and hitting him, according to the station.

Describing his injuries, the veteran said he suffered a “partially collapsed left lung” along with broken ribs, a broken collarbone, head trauma, and spinal injuries.

Don’t get out of your car, but do get out of the wasteland of Portland.

Socialism is the destroyer of nations.  Socialism in America is reason enough – as if you needed any other reasons – to keep possession of your weapons.