A look at the complex ways in which gender plays a role in organized crime dynamics.
Government forces started romantic relationships, offered work, and used blackmail to pressure vulnerable women into becoming state informants.
A deep dive into the dark forces threatening one of the most richly diverse ecosystems in the world.
Bolivia has 60 million hectares of Amazon rainforest, and although it is the country with the second highest amount of forest loss after Brazil, it tends to go unnoticed internationally.
A drug trafficker with ties to Suriname’s vice president continues his business as usual despite gaining international notoriety.
In November, InSight Crime exposed the suspected ties of drug trafficker Brian Blue to Suriname’s Vice President Ronnie Brunswijk. A new investigation, based on judicial documents and interviews with police sources in Suriname and Brazil, showcases Blue’s ability to stay off the radar of Surinamese authorities despite his rising international profile.
Rsiete does not only sing about imprisonment. He lives it.
This Venezuelan singer’s face is rarely seen on social media, yet still has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. Since launching his career in 2022, he has released nine songs, all of which appear to have been recorded from the music studio he built inside Tocuyito prison in northern Venezuela.
18 years later, more questions than answers remain.
Drug traffickers met with representatives of the 2006 AMLO election campaign, according to witnesses. This meeting would lead to a DEA investigation into the campaign of Mexico’s current president.
A judicial battle for a country’s political soul.
Méndez Ruiz and sympathetic prosecutors have gutted key justice institutions. Now, he and his allies are taking aim at Guatemala’s president, Bernardo Arévalo, who has promised to reignite the county’s fight against graft.
Meet Juan Orlando Hernández, president and drug trafficker.
When the military police detained Erika Bandy and Nery Orlando López at a checkpoint on June 6, 2018, they found, among other things, a notebook where they had written down all the details of their drug trafficking business. Among the entries were the names of Tony Hernández and his brother, Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras who was recently sentenced to 45 years in prison.
It is impossible to understand Tapachula without understanding migration.
The city is located on Mexico’s southern border in the state of Chiapas, a little less than 20 kilometers from the Suchiate River, which separates the country from Guatemala. Over time, it has become an obligatory transit point for thousands of Central American migrants trying to reach the United States. It has a sound highway system, solid roads, and two ports that face the Pacific Ocean. What’s more, it is the first stop of an infamous cargo train known as “La Bestia,” or the Beast, which connects this southern region to the center of Mexico. It is also home to multiple groups fighting for control of very lucrative criminal economies.
Learn more about our most recent investigations and the most prominent criminal dynamics in the region in our explainer videos.
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