Is Colombia’s terrorist label for all criminal groups a new tactic?
Why have the US missile strikes against drug boats restarted after a 2-month hiatus?
What does one of Haiti’s largest mass kidnappings reveal?
This week’s top organized crime stories in On the Radar.
1. Colombia to Treat All Crime Groups as ‘Terrorists’
President Abelardo de la Espriella ordered Colombia’s security forces to treat criminal groups involved in drug trafficking, illegal mining, extortion, and smuggling under a single label: “terrorists” The directive aims to strengthen judicial and financial prosecution and requires the army, police, navy, and air force to operate as “a single body,” according to the recently installed president’s office.
But the use of the “terrorism” term in Colombia is nothing new, and dates back five decades to its conflict with guerrillas like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – FARC) and the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional – ELN). What implications the term will have for the legal and judicial processes around tackling Colombia’s complex criminal landscape remain to be seen.
The move comes after the Trump administration designated 20 Latin American criminal groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and Ecuador, Argentina, Peru, and Guatemala designated regional groups as “terrorists.”
2. US Military Strike Breaks Two-Month Pause
After a two-month hiatus, US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) carried out two lethal strikes on suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean this week, the first reported strikes since June 21.
Since the bombing campaign began in September 2025, the US has carried out 68 strikes, killing at least 227 people. But as US officials themselves have acknowledged, the strikes have done little to curb drug trafficking, mostly just pushing traffickers to shift routes. See InSight Crime’s tracker of the strikes for the full picture.
3. Gang Massacre in Haiti Fuels One of the Country’s Largest Mass Kidnappings
A Viv Ansanm-linked gang attacked the town of Kenscoff, outside Port-au-Prince, over the weekend, killing at least 47 people and kidnapping more than 50 others, the UN said. It’s believed to be one of the largest mass kidnappings in Haiti in the last few years.
The attack is the latest escalation in the town outside the capital: a wave of Viv Ansanm violence there in early 2025 killed roughly 260 people over two months. Haiti hasn’t held elections since 2016—five years before President Jovenel Moïse’s July 2021 assassination, which created a power vacuum that gangs have since filled, but a first round is now scheduled for December 13.
See InSight Crime’s Haiti coverage for more on the rise of gangs in Haiti.