How Mexico Loses the Precursor Chemical Money Trail
In 2021, Mexican authorities captured an Asian-Mexican businessman at a Mexican port and seized 23 tons of drugs. The shipping…
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 –…
Bolivian Amazon Faces Threats From All Sides
In Bolivia, prospectors are digging craters and poisoning rivers in Madidi National Park. This natural treasure stretches from the Andes…
The Synthetic Silk Road: Tracing China’s Grey-Market Precursor Chemical Trade
We were in a remote city in mainland China, also referred to as the People’s Republic of China, when we…
Beyond China: How Other Countries Provide Precursor Chemicals to Mexico
On September 21, 2021, Javier Algredo Vázquez was on his way to a US law enforcement office to reclaim chemical…