The Timebomb That Exploded Twice: Behind The Massacres in Honduras’ Women’s Prison
With a blaring siren, the Honduran Prison Police patrol car dodges through Tegucigalpa’s congested morning traffic, screeching into the Escuela…
El Salvador Escalates Gang Crackdown With New Measures
With the deployment of thousands of soldiers to rural El Salvador and new legislation permitting the trial of hundreds of…
Firearms, Disappearances, Prison Overcrowding: Brazil’s Problems Are Getting Worse
From overpopulated, crumbling prisons to tens of thousands of disappearances every year, as well as millions of weapons in circulation,…
The Rise and Fall of the Choneros, Ecuador’s Drug Trafficking Opportunists
Jorge Bismarck Véliz España was an ambitious man growing up in Puerto Arturo, a neighborhood in the larger town of…
DataInSights: Are Pretrial Detentions Fueling Organized Crime in Paraguay?
Insecurity is rising in Paraguay, and the government is increasing recruitment opportunities for organized crime groups by jailing thousands of…
How Criminal Groups Helped Fill Venezuela’s Post-Chávez Void
When Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez succumbed to cancer in 2013, a perfect storm of crises was already looming on the…
The Future of Venezuela’s Hybrid State
The evolution of a hybrid state in Venezuela, combining governance with criminality, has helped President Nicolás Maduro hold on to…
Hybrid Governance and the Criminal Fiefdoms of Tren de Aragua
There are specific expectations for residents of San Vicente, a neighborhood in Venezuela’s central state of Aragua. Men are not…
Honduras Anti-Gang Crackdown Targets Only One Source of Violence
The Honduran government is intensifying its anti-gang crackdown following recent outbursts of criminal violence, but its one-size-fits-all response fails to…
Q&A: Latin American Children With Parents in Prison Get No Support
Despite wide-ranging evidence of the consequences of prison overcrowding, including widespread gang recruitment and extensive human rights abuses, Latin America…