Journalist and VPol contributor Osama AlFarran (@osamaalfarran3 ) reports on the release of 159 Saudi-backed detainees who had surrendered to the Yemeni armed forces, under a general amnesty issued by Yemeni President Mahdi al-Mashat on September 10, according to Saba News Agency. ￭ Released detainees said the Saudi-backed authorities had distorted the image of the Sanaa government and Ansar Allah, claiming that many Yemenis fighting for Saudi-backed forces had been deceived and discovered a different reality after their capture. ￭ The release follows the freeing of 323 captives in September. The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed its support for the latest release and the detainees' return home.

The term “cartel” now does the same job “terrorist” did after 9/11. Once someone has that label, they can be bombed, kidnapped, or jailed without proof, and the target can be anyone: a fisherman, a farmer, a migrant, or a head of state. But are drug cartels as we imagine them even real? ￭ In 2022, Mexican scholar and former journalist Oswaldo Zavala published a book titled "Drug Cartels Do Not Exist." His argument is that the drug trade is real, but the “cartel” as we imagine it is largely an invention of governments. The term “cartel” itself was coined by US officials and the DEA in the 1980s, then adopted by Mexican media. ￭ The mythical, sensationalized idea of the "cartel" as a monolithic criminal empire powerful enough to rival the state in reality serves to obscure the US's direct role in global drug trafficking. By @CallaWalsh