Arturo Andrade / AFP - Getty Images
A cloud of ash belches out of Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano, some 55 km from Mexico City, as seen from Paso de Cortes, in the Mexican central state of Puebla, on May 20. Authorities have raised the alert level to "Yellow Phase Three," the fifth of a seven-stage warning system, restricting access to an area of 12 km around the volcano while preparing evacuation routes and shelters.
Arturo Andrade / AFP - Getty Images
Eduardo Verdugo / AP
Migrants ride on top of a northern bound train toward the US-Mexico border in Juchitan, southern Mexico, on April 29. Migrants crossing Mexico to get to the U.S. have increasingly become targets of criminal gangs who kidnap them to obtain ransom money.
Eduardo Verdugo / AP
Migrants riding on top of a northern bound train toward the US-Mexico border reach out to catch food tossed to them by residents, in Union Hidalgo, southern Mexico, on April 29.
Eduardo Verdugo / AP
Residents toss food to migrants riding on top of a northern bound train toward the US-Mexico border in Union Hidalgo in Oaxaca, southern Mexico, on April 29.
Eduardo Verdugo / AP
Migrants ride on top of a northern bound train toward the US-Mexico border in Union Hidalgo, southern Mexico, on April 29.
Immigration Nation: An in-depth look at immigration in America
Edgard Garrido / Reuters
A man visits the "Memorial to Victims of Violence in Mexico" during its opening in Mexico City on April 5. The massive 149,000-square foot monument serves as a tribute to the victims of Mexico's bloody drug war. The first of its kind in Mexico, it is divided into several iron panels featuring poems and quotes. An estimated 70,000 people have been killed by drug-related violence in Mexico in the past seven years, and many thousands of others remain unaccounted for.
Pedro Pardo / AFP - Getty Images
Armed residents -- community police -- take part in an operation to search for criminals in the village of Xaltianguis, Acapulco municipality, April 2, in the southwestern State of Guerrero, Mexico.
Pedro Pardo / AFP - Getty Images
Hundreds of civilians armed with rifles, pistols and machetes decided to provide security for the communities of Guerrero, Mexico, creating a vigilante force to stop gangs that are committing robberies, kidnappings and murders. Guerrero, home to the Pacific resort town of Acapulco, has been one of the hardest hit by Mexico's drug violence, which has left more than 70,000 people dead across the country since 2006.
Related story: Mexican vigilantes seize town, arrest police
Pedro Pardo / AFP - Getty Images
Pedro Pardo / AFP - Getty Images
John Moore / Getty Images
John Moore / Getty Images
U.S. Border Patrol ranch liaison John "Cody" Jackson (L) and a fellow agent meet with cattle rancher Ron Fish (R) near the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday.
U.S. Border Patrol ranch liaison John "Cody" Jackson (R) and cattle rancher Dan Bell ride through Bell's ZZ Cattle Ranch at the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday, March 8, 2013 in Nogales, Arizona. Agent Jackson meets regularly with local ranchers to coordinate the agency's efforts on border issues, including drug smuggling and illegal immigration from Mexico. Bell, a third generation rancher, grazes cattle on nearly ten miles of border property. Nogales, Mexico is seen on the far side of the border fence.
John Moore / Getty Images
Daniel Becerril / Reuters
Catholics pray near windows covered partially with cement blocks inside St. Teresa of Avila church in Monterrey, Mexico, on Feb. 17, 2013.
Daniel Becerril / Reuters
A green light indicates there is no danger as a priest distributes Holy Communion to the congregation inside the church.
A church in the Mexican city of Monterrey has set up extreme security measures to protect worshippers, bricking up its windows and introducing a traffic light system to warn churchgoers if a crime is taking place nearby.
During mass, a green light is activated above a side door of the St. Teresa of Avila church to indicate that there is no sign of danger outside.
When the amber light is lit, it indicates caution, while the red light represents danger from criminal activity, such as a shooting, taking place near the church.
A concrete wall has also been constructed in front of the main facade of the church.
Daniel Becerril / Reuters
A concrete wall has been built in front of St. Teresa of Avila church.
Last week, Mexico's new administration offered the first details of a long-touted shift in the country's war on drugs, saying the government will spend $9.2 billion this year on social programs meant to keep young people from joining criminal organizations in the 251 most violent towns and neighborhoods across the country.
"It's clear that we must put special emphasis on prevention, because we can't only keep employing more sophisticated weapons, better equipment, more police, a higher presence of the armed forces in the country as the only form of combating organized crime," President Enrique Pena Nieto said.
-- Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related:
6 arrested in Acapulco tourists' rape
Mexicans weary of drug gangs form vigilante patrols
Slideshow: Mexico's drug war, drug culture
Sashenka Gutierrez / EPA
Search and rescue operation in the PEMEX administrative building in Mexico City on February 01, 2013, a day after a deadly explosion. Pemex is stepping up security at oil production facilities as authorities investigate the blast, which killed at least 33 people at the state-owned company's headquarters. Read the full story.
Alfredo Estrella / AFP - Getty Images
General view inside the damaged building of state-owned Mexican oil giant Pemex in Mexico City, Mexico.
Related story:
Guillermo Gutierrez / AP
Firefighters belonging to the Tacubaya sector and workers dig for survivors after an explosion at an adjacent building to the executive tower of Mexico's state-owned oil company PEMEX, in Mexico City, Thursday Jan. 31, 2013. A large explosion occurred in the lower floors of the building.
By Kari Huus, Staff writer, NBC News
An explosion in the Mexico City skyscraper complex housing the headquarters of state oil monopoly Pemex killed 14 and injured at least 80, company and government officials said.
The explosion took place in the basement garage of the auxiliary building of the complex, next to the company's 54-floor tower located in a busy commercial and residential area, Interior Department spokesman Eduardo Sanchez told reporters.
Alejandro Dias / Reuters
An injured person is transported on a stretcher the headquarters of state oil giant Pemex in Mexico City Jan. 31.
Yuri Cortez / AFP - Getty Images
Rescue workers head for the skyscraper.
Yuri Cortez / AFP - Getty Images
A helicopter overflies the area following a blast inside the skyscraper that houses the headquarters of state-owned Mexican oil giant Pemex.
Edgard Garrido / Reuters
The daughter of Eusebio Gonzalez, a policeman who was shot Tuesday while trying to stop a group of assailants, cries during a tribute to her father as she stands next to a folded Mexican flag in Ecatepec, Jan. 30, 2013.
The government of Mexico state -- the state that surrounds Mexico City -- has started a joint security operation with the Mexican army and federal police in areas of the Mexican state with high rates of violence, where more than 80 murders have been reported in January.
Yoan Valat / EPA
Florence Cassez embraces her mother Charlotte Cassez, as French Minister for Foreign Affairs Laurent Fabius looks on, upon her arrival in Paris on Jan. 24.
Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP - Getty Images file
French national Florence Cassez listens to her lawyer behind bars on Jan. 22, 2008 in Mexico City. Mexico's Supreme Court ordered yesterday, the immediate release of Cassez serving 60 years in prison for kidnapping, ruling that authorities had violated her legal rights.
Mexico's Supreme Court ordered the immediate release of Florence Cassez, a 38-year-old French woman who had been sentenced to 60 years in jail for kidnapping and other crimes. The court ended the seven-year Mexican prison ordeal by ruling yesterday that there were serious irregularities in the way the case was handled, including a failure to grant Cassez due process.
Reuters reported, Charlotte Cassez, her mother, told French television, "It's an explosion of joy. It's wonderful."
"It's not far from being the best day of my life. We've been waiting for so long," she said after hearing about her daughter's release. "She deserves it. She is innocent and has fought to prove that. It's a victory for her." Continue reading article.
-- Reuters, European Pressphotos Agency
Daniel Becerril / Reuters
Benito Hernandez stands outside his home near San Jose de Las Piedras in Mexico's northern state of Coahuila on January 16. For over 30 years, Hernandez, his wife Santa Martha de la Cruz Villarreal and their family have lived in a sun-dried brick home with a huge 130-foot-diameter rock used as a roof. The dwelling is found close to the town of San Jose de Piedras, a remote community located in the arid desert of Coahuila, about 50 miles from the border with Texas.
Daniel Becerril / Reuters
Lucero Hernandez, granddaughter of Benito Hernandez and his wife Santa Martha de la Cruz Villarreal, stands in the doorway of her family's home near San Jose de Las Piedras in Mexico's northern state of Coahuila.
Daniel Becerril / Reuters
Santa Martha de la Cruz Villarreal stands nearby as her husband Benito Hernandez pours hot water into a cup at their home.
Daniel Becerril / Reuters
Benito Hernandez stands inside his family's bedroom at his home.
Daniel Becerril / Reuters
The home of the Hernandez family at night.
See more images of interesting structures in PhotoBlog.
A family in Mexico shows off their home made of rock where they have lived for over 30 years. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
Eduardo Verdugo / AP
A dog equipped with a dog wheelchair stands next to a metal pail at the "Milagros Caninos," sanctuary for abused and abandoned dogs, in Mexico City, Jan. 11. About 128 abused dogs are sheltered at the Milagros Caninos sanctuary. Dogs on wheelchairs, blind, deaf or ill frolic and run around the huge sanctuary in the southern part of Mexico City.
Eduardo Verdugo / AP
Patricia Ruiz plays with dogs at her sanctuary for abused and abandoned dogs.
Eduardo Verdugo / AP
Belgian shepherd mix, Pay de Limon or Lemon Pie, walks using his prosthetic front legs on the grounds of Milagros Caninos,
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