The week at a glance...Americas

Mexico City

The effects of legal pot: Mexico may change its approach to its drug war now that Colorado and Washington have legalized marijuana. “Obviously we can’t handle a product that is illegal in Mexico, trying to stop its transfer to the United States, when in the U.S., at least in part of the U.S., it now has a different status,” said Luis Videgaray, top adviser to President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto. The incoming president has said his main goal is not to confront drug smugglers but to reduce the soaring rates of murder, kidnapping, and extortion by cartels. About half the marijuana consumed in the U.S. comes from Mexico.\

San Pedro, Belize

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McAfee wanted: American anti-virus software magnate John McAfee is on the run in Belize. McAfee, who has lived in Belize the past two years, is wanted for questioning in the murder of his American neighbor there, Gregory Faull, who had recently complained about McAfee’s vicious dogs. McAfee told Wired magazine that he hid from the police under a pile of sand and cardboard boxes because he fears for his own life, saying that whoever killed Faull actually meant to kill him. A U.S. reporter who interviewed McAfee recently said the multimillionaire had become an avid user of the dangerous new drug known as bath salts.

São Paulo

Murder rate soars: The battle against a gang that controls the crack cocaine trade has left nearly 150 people dead in the past two weeks. Schools and shops in some districts have closed, as residents fear going out on the streets. Brazil is the world’s second-biggest market for cocaine, after the U.S. In January, the state ordered police to crack down on the First Command of the Capital, one of the country’s most prominent and violent gangs. Since then the homicide rate has soared and at least 90 police officers have been murdered, many in their own homes. During one recent raid on a drug den, police said, they found a list of police names and their routines.