Violence and Addiction Rob the Youth of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico
While murders have dropped, youth in Ciudad Juárez continue to confront extreme violence and struggles with addiction to synthetic drugs.| InSight Crime
While murders have dropped, youth in Ciudad Juárez continue to confront extreme violence and struggles with addiction to synthetic drugs.| InSight Crime
The Juárez Cartel is responsible for smuggling tons of narcotics from Mexico into the United States throughout its long, turbulent history.| InSight Crime
Brazil’s Red Command Turned Turf Control Into Ride-Hailing Monopoly Brazil’s Red Command gang created its own Uber-style ride-hailing app, showing how Brazilian gangs are combining real-world territorial control and increasing technological sophistication to generate new revenue streams. The Red Command managed its app, called Rotax Mobili, together with an allied criminal group, Amigos dos Amigos. The post Brazil’s Red Command Turned Turf Control Into Ride-Hailing Monopoly appeared fir...| InSight Crime
Beyond Tren de Aragua: Venezuelan Gangs Spread Across Latin America While headlines and political speeches focus predominately on Tren de Aragua, another criminal group from Venezuela, the Zulia gangs, has expanded its operations in Latin America, leaving a quieter but no less violent mark than the more famous Venezuelan crime group. The post Beyond Tren de Aragua: Venezuelan Gangs Spread Across Latin America appeared first on InSight Crime.| InSight Crime
La Línea La Línea is one of the top criminal forces in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, engaging in everything from migrant smuggling to drug trafficking. Its home base is Ciudad Juárez, from which it projects its power along an important stretch of the US-Mexico border. The post La Línea appeared first on InSight Crime.| InSight Crime
On the Radar: ‘El Mayo’ To Plead Guilty This week, On The Radar focuses on Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael Zambada Garcia, alias “El Mayo,” who is set to plead guilty to multiple drug trafficking charges in US federal court, the presidential race in Bolivia, which could reshape the country’s approach to cocaine production, and how in Guyana, most of the country’s cocaine now flows from Venezuela. The post On the Radar: ‘El Mayo’ To Plead Guilty appeared first on InSight Crime.| InSight Crime
Chiquito Malo: Warlord of Colombia’s AGC Crime Conglomerate Who is Chiquito Malo? The top leader of the Gaitanistas, one of Colombia’s largest criminal structures, with a presence in more than half of Colombia’s departments. A criminal mastermind, who has directed the Gaitanistas’ war with Colombian armed groups and managed its international alliances with the Sinaloa Cartel, ‘Ndrangheta and Balkan mafias. A fugitive, whose current whereabouts are unknown and has been wanted for ext...| InSight Crime
Video: The Military is Going to Leave Ecuador’s Prisons – What Comes Next? Last week, Ecuador announced it would begin to withdraw military forces from the prisons, over a year and half after deploying them to break criminal control. The news marks the beginning of the end of a policy that has been an inflection point in the country’s criminal history. The post Video: The Military is Going to Leave Ecuador’s Prisons – What Comes Next? appeared first on InSight Crime.| InSight Crime
What Is Tren de Aragua? Is Tren de Aragua a terrorist organization bent on invading the United States or a spent criminal force being used as an excuse to target the Venezuelan regime? The post What Is Tren de Aragua? appeared first on InSight Crime.| InSight Crime
The Tocorón Takeover Tocorón Prison was the most notorious in the country and the main sanctuary and center of operations of Tren de Aragua. The post The Tocorón Takeover appeared first on InSight Crime.| InSight Crime
Bolívar: A New Sanctuary for Tren de Aragua? In Bolívar, Tren de Aragua does not operate like the prison-based megabanda that expanded across the region. Instead, it functions as a sindicato – the term used for criminal groups involved in illegal mining in Venezuela. The post Bolívar: A New Sanctuary for Tren de Aragua? appeared first on InSight Crime.| InSight Crime
Colombia had already proven to be fertile territory for Tren de Aragua's operations, expanding its criminal rents and offering refuge.| InSight Crime
Second Marquetalia The Second Marquetalia is one of the largest group of dissident FARC, who rejected the 2016 peace process with the government. The post Second Marquetalia appeared first on InSight Crime.| InSight Crime
The tightening of US migration policy after Donald Trump, means the number of migrants seeking to cross the US/Mexico border has dropped sharply. Criminal groups are losing prey and a major source of criminal income, so being forced to adapt.| InSight Crime
In Ciudad Juárez, an old criminal guard is being replaced by a new one amid a changing criminal economy on the US-Mexico border.| InSight Crime
InSight Crime investigator Parker Asmann provided expert analysis to several media outlets in Honduras following the release of our latest investigation, which prompted both environmental authorities and local government officials […]| InSight Crime
The recent involvement of Chile’s air force in protecting a drug shipment has sparked an unprecedented corruption scandal in the country.| InSight Crime
The arrests of seven mayors in Venezuela show how President Maduro has weaponized the supposed fight against crime for his political ends.| InSight Crime
"Creepy" marijuana cultivated in Colombia is in demand in Latin America, and Venezuela provides its exit point.| InSight Crime
Each night at Colombia’s Cúcuta border city, illegal dirt tracks connecting the city to Venezuela become highways for smuggling.| InSight Crime
Nicolas Maduro claimed victory after a disputed election, which will lead to Venezuela cementing its position as a regional crime hub.| InSight Crime
Venezuela’s government has unleashed a new campaign targeting municipal and state officials, police commanders and prosecutors allegedly involved in extortion and drug trafficking.| InSight Crime
Venezuela's Presidents Chávez and Maduro, to secure long-term power, ensured the country's criminal groups would answer to them.| InSight Crime
The regime of President Nicolás Maduro used recent municipal elections to consolidate its control over key criminal territories in Venezuela.| InSight Crime
Operating out of Amazonas in Venezuela, the dissident structure has gained transnational influence. It controls drug trafficking and illegal mining and has the backing of influential state, local and national institutions.| InSight Crime
The government's first operation massively displacing miners from Yapacana lacks transparency and leaves more questions than answers.| InSight Crime
Efforts to reduce illegal gold mining in Yonamami territories by Brazilian president, Lula, appear to have stalled, and the miners are back.| InSight Crime
Seizures of coltan in Colombia have shown the complex networks used by armed groups to smuggle the valuable mineral from illegal mines across the border in Venezuela.| InSight Crime
Essequibo’s long and porous border with Venezuela makes it easy for illegal mining gangs and criminal groups to move in and out.| InSight Crime
Illegal mining is by far the most widespread and insidious environmental crime occurring in the Amazon’s tri-border regions.| InSight Crime
The ex-FARC mafia are a series of criminal structures that emerged from the now demobilized FARC in Colombia.| InSight Crime
The ELN is the last real guerrilla force in Latin America and has transitioned into a real transnational threat in Colombia and Venezuela.| InSight Crime
Repeated and widely publicized government actions against illegal miners in Amazonas state have only deepened the trade's hold.| InSight Crime
Presidential assassination plots and the Jalisco Cartel's influence on government -- the juicy details of Mexico's SEDENA leaks.| InSight Crime
Genaro García Luna will spend the next few decades behind bars. But will that help prevent cartel corruption?| InSight Crime
As violence spikes in the southern Mexican state, the government is sending migrants into the crosshairs of organized crime.| InSight Crime
The conviction of Genaro García Luna is a big victory for US law enforcement institutions. But problems remain in the US-Mexico partnership.| InSight Crime
United States authorities captured a Mexican state's attorney general accused of being part of a drug trafficking ring, a rare case of a prosecutor being directly involved in the smuggling of narcotics into the United States.| InSight Crime
The Sinaloa Cartel is considered the largest and most powerful drug trafficking organization in the Western Hemisphere.| InSight Crime
The Jalisco Cartel New Generation is often considered Mexico's most feared cartel, whose operations stretch across the country.| InSight Crime
An international manhunt is underway to capture a former state security chief for allegedly colluding with a Jalisco Cartel cell in Tabasco.| InSight Crime
A US court has found the brother of the president of Honduras guilty on drug trafficking charges, but serious questions remain about how much of an impact| InSight Crime
Juan Orlando Hernández, was the first Central American president to be accused, tried, and convicted of drug trafficking in the United States| InSight Crime
The former mayor who may bring down Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández first appears on page eight of what can only be described as one of the most| InSight Crime
Matta Ballesteros was wanted for drug trafficking, but he regularly hosted parties for high-level officials at his home.| InSight Crime
Opening up Honduras and its natural resources has had several unintended consequences, including the plundering of the environment.| InSight Crime
A wave of violence against traffic authorities in Ecuador shows how criminal groups look to deepen their control over the country’s streets.| InSight Crime
InSight Crime is a media organization and think tank dedicated to the study of organized crime in the Americas.| InSight Crime
The gangs' demise has radically altered the country’s criminal landscape, liberating territories and illegal markets from their control.| InSight Crime
As Guyana grows as a destination for migrants from Venezuela and elsewhere, its appeal has also increased for human traffickers.| InSight Crime
The Mara Salvatrucha, or MS13, is perhaps the most notorious street gang in the Western Hemisphere.| InSight Crime
Colombia’s emerald trade has suffered another blow to its reputation with the professional assassination of top dealer Juan Sebastian Aguilar. The killing has sparked speculation over which criminal powers could be at work, and what they may gain from the hit.| InSight Crime
Welcome to Summer InSights, our seasonal special where we share a selection of some of our most engaging publications to keep you entertained as well as informed about Latin America’s underworld.| InSight Crime
The United States has released Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, the former Gulf Cartel leader who created the Zetas.| InSight Crime
