大象传媒

Insight, wit and analysis from 大象传媒 correspondents, journalists and writers from around the world - introduced by Owen Bennett Jones.

Horrible memories - and dangerous allies

Ian Pannell, a frontline war correspondent, who is just back from Syria. He鈥檚 been in and around the northern city of Aleppo: an eyewitness to the fighting there. Recently he met one rebel commander who'd been a doctor in his previous life - before accounts of atrocities and torture motivated him to take up arms. But who else was fighting alongside him?

The hunt for El Lazca's corpse

The drugs trade is so extremely lucrative that it threatens the power of states. In Colombia and Mexico, in particular, the men at the top of the organisations producing, smuggling and marketing drugs for years flaunted their muscle and wealth - taunting the authorities.

But there are limits to even the most feared drugs boss鈥檚 clout. More often than not the security forces eventually find their man. Will Grant in Mexico City has been following the violent times, abbreviated life and strange post-mortem journey of Heriberto Lazcano, once head of the Zetas cartel.