MEXICO CITY — The temporary closure of airspace over El Paso, Texas, on Wednesday caused unease south of the U.S.-Mexico border and put the spotlight on the use of drones by Mexican cartels.

The criminal groups have used the technology to modernize their operations, smuggle fentanyl, organize migrant border crossings, surveil territory and wage war on rival cartels and Mexican authorities.

U.S. officials initially said the airspace was closed to halt an incursion by Mexican cartel drones, though others familiar with the situation later put that explanation in doubt.

Steven Willoughby, deputy director of the Department of Homeland Security’s counter-drone program, told Congress in July that cartels use drones almost daily to move drugs across the border and to monitor Border Patrol agents.

According to their data, in the last six months of 2024 more than 27,000 drones were detected within 500 meters (1,640 feet) of the U.S. southern border, mainly at night.

Here’s what you need to know:

Drug trafficking by air is not new and is linked to the history of Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso.

In the 1990s, drug trafficker Amado Carrillo Fuentes, founder of the Juarez Cartel, specialized in transporting large drug shipments in small aircraft, earning him the nickname “The Lord of the Skies.”

When he died under suspicious circumstances following botched plastic surgery in 1997, his brothers and sons continued operating out of Ciudad Juarez.

Fifteen years later, when his brother Vicente was arrested — Vicente was sent from Mexico to the United States last year — it was estimated that 70% of the cocaine entering the United States came through Juarez.

Mexico issued an international alert in 2010 about drug traffickers’ use of remotely piloted aircraft systems, and from then on the practice grew.

Between 2012 and 2014, U.S. authorities detected 150 unmanned aircraft systems crossing the border with Mexico. A decade later, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 10,000 incursions in the Rio Grande Valley area of southern Texas alone, according to data from the International Narcotics Control Board.

Over time, the drugs flowing into the U.S. were changing too, shifting from heavy bales of marijuana to more compact synthetics like methamphetamine and fentanyl that drones could carry.

In 2021, the Mexican government began publicly reporting the use of explosive-laden drones to attack security forces.

At the time, it was a tactic of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) detected in the states of Michoacan, Guanajuato and Jalisco.

The army said then that the drones were not as effective as criminals would like because they could only carry small explosive charges, sometimes taped onto the drone.

The use of drones spread to nearly all criminal groups and, according to Mexican authorities, they are used both for attacks and for surveillance, even transmitting real-time images.

In states such as Michoacan, both commercial drones and larger agricultural drones about one meter (3.3 feet) in diameter are used; instead of sprayers, they are fitted with adapters for explosives, according to data from that state’s government.

In 2025, the International Narcotics Control Board reported that cartels were increasingly using this method to smuggle fentanyl, sometimes with homemade drones capable of carrying up to 100 kilograms (220.46 pounds) of cargo, because with new satellite technologies traffickers can pre-program precise landing sites and reduce risks in deliveries.

Mexico’s government, too, has used drones for their own purposes, both to combat cartels and to monitor migrant caravans in 2018 and 2019. It has also used specialized anti-drone equipment to fight back in states.

The army operates such systems along the borders dividing Sinaloa, Jalisco and Michoacan, primarily, although the latter state has its own unit dedicated to that work.

Last July, the southern state of Chiapas went a step further, announcing the purchase of a fleet of armed drones to battle the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels that were fighting for control of Mexico’s southern border.

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Follow AP’s Latin America coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

From high in the mountains early in the day to intense drama at an ice rink in southern Milan late at night, today was a day of medals for Team USA, which now owns 12. We also saw men’s hockey begin, with the reigning gold medalist falling in an upset.

Our correspondents have it all covered below and at NBC News. Catch it all streaming on Peacock.

Live from Milan Cortina

In the past four years, the married American figure skating pair of Madison Chock and Evan Bates had become the sport’s dominant pair. But one final accomplishment had eluded them in 15 years of competing together — the Olympic gold medal in ice dance.

Skating second to last in today’s ice dance final, Chock and Bates performed a spirited routine that put them in first place. Before they could celebrate, however, they had to wait out a final pair from France led by reigning Olympic champion Guillaume Cizeron and his partner of less than a year, Laurence Fournier Beaudry. In a dramatic reveal, the French pair’s score was better by less than 2 points, vaulting them into gold. The American and French pairs, who train under the same coach in Montreal, hugged one another in a melancholy moment for the Americans.

American speedskating star Jordan Stolz won the 1,000 meters and shaved a second off the Olympic record by finishing in 1:06.28. The 21-year-old from Wisconsin will also be favored in the 500 meters and the 1,500 meters and may also compete in the mass start, and he is trying to join Eric Heiden as the only American, man or woman, in any sport to win three-plus gold medals in a single Winter Olympics.

The U.S. added to its medal haul on the slopes, where it earned two medals in women’s moguls as Liz Lemley won gold and Jaelin Kauf earned silver. And snowboarder Chloe Kim, less than a month after she tore the labrum in her left shoulder in training, left little doubt that she’ll be a threat for gold in the halfpipe by registering the highest score in qualifying. The U.S. has medaled in every Olympics since the halfpipe debuted in 1998.

Italy’s sensational Olympics continued when it won gold medals in both the men’s and women’s double luge. Thus far, Italy is one of just three countries to have earned double-digit medals. And men’s hockey has begun — with a surprise. Finland, the reigning champion, didn’t just lose its opening game; it was crushed by Slovakia, 4-1. The U.S. men open tomorrow against Latvia.

Athlete Spotlight

It had been a rough couple of days for Ryan Cochran-Siegle.

The Vermont native suffered from food poisoning, just about managing to battle it down enough to run in Saturday’s downhill, before his beloved New England Patriots lost the Super Bowl on Sunday. Bouncing back from his illness, he managed to prove his 2022 silver was no fluke as he claimed second again in the men’s super-G.

“It’s super emotional,” Cochran-Siegle told NBC Sports’ Heather Cox when he was asked how it felt to come back from illness to claim silver. “Definitely had to fight some demons with the toilet before my run.”

Cheering him on was his mom, Barbara Cochran, who won gold at the 1972 Sapporo Games — 50 years to the day before he got silver in Beijing. His fiancée, Jessica Lucas, was also in attendance.

“I was selfish, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted my mom to come here, just because it is such a big event,” he admitted. “She was a little sick the last few days, too, so I got to see her from a balcony yesterday, but I haven’t actually seen her in person; [that’ll] be nice. And then, obviously, Jesse, too. She’s a huge part of my life. Sharing this moment with them is cool. I did not expect this, but obviously it’s nice to bring home some hardware.”

Photo of the Day

When to Watch

Thursday will be a stacked day of action. We’ll see U.S. men’s hockey for the first time, as it takes on Latvia. Chloe Kim has a chance at history, and we get to witness the chaotic glory that is short track speedskating.

All times are in Eastern, and an asterisk signifies a medal event.

• 3:05 a.m.: Curling, women’s round robin (Korea vs. USA, Japan vs. Sweden, Italy vs. Switzerland, Canada vs. Denmark)
• 3:30 a.m.: Skeleton, men’s heat 1
• 4 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, men’s moguls qualification 2
• 4 a.m.: Snowboarding, men’s SBX seeding run 1
• 4:55 a.m.: Snowboarding, men’s SBX seeding run 2
• 5:08 a.m.: Skeleton, men’s heat 2
• 5:30 a.m.: Alpine skiing, women’s super-G*
• 6:10 a.m.: Men’s hockey, France vs. Switzerland
• 6:15 a.m.: Freestyle skiing, men’s moguls finals*
• 7 a.m.: Cross-country skiing, women’s 10-kilometer interval free start*
• 7:45 a.m.: Snowboard, men’s cross ⅛ finals
• 8:05 a.m.: Curling, men’s round robin (Norway vs. Germany, USA vs. Switzerland, Great Britain vs. Sweden)
• 8:18 a.m.: Snowboard, men’s snowboard cross quarterfinals
• 8:30 a.m.: Women’s hockey, Canada vs. Finland
• 8:39 a.m.: Snowboard, men’s snowboard cross semifinals
• 8:56 a.m.: Snowboard, men’s snowboard cross finals*
• 10:30 a.m.: Speedskating, women’s 5,000 meters
• 10:40 a.m.: Men’s hockey, Canada vs. Czechia
• 12:30 p.m.: Luge, team relay*
• 1:05 p.m.: Curling, women’s round robin (China vs. Great Britain, Italy vs. Korea, Denmark vs. Japan, USA vs. Sweden)
• 1:30 p.m.: Snowboard, women’s halfpipe final*
• 2:15 p.m.: Short track speedskating, women’s 500-meter quarterfinals
• 2:28 p.m.: Short track speedskating, men’s 1,000-meter quarterfinals
• 3 p.m.: Short track speedskating, women’s 500-meter semifinals
• 3:07 p.m.: Short track speedskating, men’s 1,000-meter semifinals
• 3:10 p.m.: Men’s hockey, (USA vs. Latvia, Germany vs. Denmark)
• 3:36 p.m.: Short track speedskating, women’s 500-meter finals*
• 3:48 p.m.: Short track speedskating, men’s 1,000-meter finals*