The Road to El Salvador’s State of Emergency
The road to El Salvador’s state of emergency has been long and bloody. The small Central American nation spent decades…
The Future Looks Bleak for El Salvador’s Gangs
On a scorching July afternoon at an urban park in El Salvador’s Apopa municipality, just north of capital city San…
Gangs on the Run: How Bukele’s Crackdown Drove Gangs Underground
It was mid-October 2022 when Felipe,* a heavily-tattooed former member of El Salvador’s largest street gang finally escaped the government’s…
How Bukele’s Government Overpowered Gangs: Summary & Major Findings
In March 2022, the government of El Salvador launched one of the most relentless security crackdowns in its history in…
The Resistance at Mocorón River
Over 60 Indigenous Miskito leaders and representatives are gathered in a Catholic church in the town of Mocorón, a village…
When Death Flew Over the Ébano Lagoon
It was about 3:00 p.m. on the afternoon of September 16, 2021, when the Bell H1-1H, with the registration number…
When Cocaine Comes to Paradise
March 2023. Late afternoon. Puerto Lempira, Honduras. In front of the Tansin Lagoon, Moreno and Brutus, two Indigenous Miskito locals,…
Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua Loses its Home
Tren de Aragua, Venezuela’s most powerful home-grown criminal syndicate has just lost its home base, while its leadership is in…
Tren de Aragua’s Criminal Portfolio: Adapt or Die
“PEOPLE ARE NOT MERCHANDISE,” reads a billboard at the main boarding crossing from Colombia to Ecuador. Yet that is exactly…
Three Stages in the Construction of the Tren de Aragua’s Transnational Empire
“Tour operators” offering trips to Bogotá, Medellín, and even as far afield as Ecuador and Peru, swarm anyone stepping off…