The Mafias Behind Sand Trafficking in Latin America
Just 50 miles from Rio de Janeiro’s world-famous beaches, one of the city’s most powerful gangsters found a fortune to…
Cocaine Surge Fuels Violence as Opium Falls: UN Drug Report 2024
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released its annual drug report, highlighting the manifold destruction caused by…
The Dragons of Chocó: Illegal Gold Mining in Colombia’s Rivers
Riding up the Quito River, trees claw their way to the edges of the riverbanks, forming an impenetrable forest wall…
Illegal Mining Grows in Southern Venezuela, as Brazil Tightens Grip
Recent reports from military operations and civil society groups indicate that the presence of Brazilian miners in the south of…
Poachers’ Safe Haven: Bolivian Amazon Plundered for Wildlife
Bolivia’s rich biodiversity makes it a prime target for traffickers. It stands as one of the world’s most biodiverse countries,…
The Poisonous Mercury Trade
Mercury, employed by miners to extract gold from soil and sediment, is smuggled daily in bottles across Bolivia’s borders with…
Gold Mining: A State-Sanctioned Scourge in Bolivia
Bolivia is in the midst of a gold rush caused by record gold prices and growing international demand. This gold…
Drug Trafficking Creeps into Bolivia’s Amazon National Parks
Bolivia is the world’s third-largest producer of coca, after Colombia and Peru, and a key crossroads for cocaine and other…
Protected Areas: Illegal Timber Strongholds in the Bolivian Amazon
For years in Bolivia, high-value woods like cedar and the mara variety of mahogany have been felled to feed domestic…
Vanishing Trees and Lakes: Deforestation in Bolivia’s Amazon
Deforestation has reached alarming levels in Bolivia. The main driver of tree cover loss – loss of the canopy –…