Smuggling networks are feeding illegal mining operations across the Amazon Basin with mercury, despite global efforts to clamp down on the use of the substance.
NEWS
Dirty Business – The Smuggling Pipeline Carrying Mercury Across the Amazon
BOLIVIA
/
13 MAY 2021
Smuggling networks are feeding illegal mining operations across the Amazon Basin with mercury, despite global efforts to clamp down on the use of the substance.
NEWS
How Chinese Criminals Secretly Move Millions for Mexico Cartels
CHINA AND CRIME
/
12 MAY 2021
While the involvement of Chinese money-laundering rings in handling drug proceeds from Mexico is nothing new, a number of recent court cases in the United States have revealed crucial information…
NEWS
Showdown Brewing Over Fate of Runaway Mexico Governor
ELITES AND CRIME
/
12 MAY 2021
Time appears to be running out for the governor of the US-Mexico border state of Tamaulipas – after lawmakers stripped him of his immunity from prosecution and US officials shared…
NEWS
Protests Shatter Already Fragile Image of Colombia’s Security Forces
COLOMBIA
/
11 MAY 2021
Colombia’s current political crisis has led to severe clashes between police and protesters in many of the country’s largest cities. But the actions carried out by security forces could have…
NEWS
Women Taking Bigger Role in Central America Extortion Schemes
EL SALVADOR
/
11 MAY 2021
A new report suggests women are increasingly playing an active role in the extortion activities of Central American gangs -- part of a larger pattern in which women's roles in…
NEWS
Earthly Delights: Religious Groups and Money Laundering in Dominican Republic
CARIBBEAN
/
10 MAY 2021
High-ranking officials in the Dominican Republic are accused of siphoning millions of dollars in state funds through a religious non-profit, showing how minimal oversight of these groups makes them ideal…
NEWS
Pandemic Spending Immunity Deepens El Salvador Corruption Concerns
COVID AND CRIME
/
10 MAY 2021
With a new law granting immunity to El Salvador officials accused of mismanaging coronavirus funds and the resignation of a prosecutor looking into pandemic-related spending, President Nayib Bukele and allies…
NEWS
Rage, Rinse, Repeat – The Futile Cycle of Anger at Rio’s Police
BRAZIL
/
7 MAY 2021
The stranger burst into the house, staggering and leaving a trail of blood behind him. He ran into the back, into the bedroom of the nine-year-old girl. Police were not…
NEWS
Texas Lawyer Sentenced for Shaking Down Colombia Drug Traffickers
COLOMBIA
/
7 MAY 2021
A central Texas lawyer known as the “DWI Dude” will spend more than 15 years in federal prison after deceiving Colombian drug traffickers with promises of getting their cases dismissed…
NEWS
5 Animals Used to Smuggle Drugs in Latin America
ARGENTINA
/
7 MAY 2021
The cat-and-mouse game of evading law enforcement was taken literally by drug smugglers recently in Panama, who hid cocaine on a feline and sent it into a prison.
Featured Reporting and Analysis
Methamphetamine use in Mexico has grown exponentially in recent years and now rivals marijuana as the drug most cited by patients in treatment for substance abuse.
FEATURED
/
29 APR 2021
The deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl has displaced heroin as the leading driver of the ongoing opioid crisis in the United States and is contributing to a deadly scramble for market-control…
FEATURED
/
28 APR 2021
Long considered a backwater, low-class drug, methamphetamine availability and use has exploded in the United States in the last few years in places where it had never been consumed in…
FEATURED
/
27 APR 2021
Colombia remains a hotspot for forced recruitment of minors. In this, the last of a three-part investigation by InSight Crime, journalist Mathew Charles looks at how school teachers are trying…
COLOMBIA
/
15 APR 2021
Children serve in a wide range of roles in criminal organizations: errand boy, landmine builder, frontline combatant and assassin. In this, the second of a three-part investigation by InSight Crime…
COLOMBIA
/
8 APR 2021
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InDepth
About InSight Crime
THE ORGANIZATION
We Have Updated Our Website
4 FEB 2021
Welcome to our new home page. We have revamped the site to create a better display and reader experience.
THE ORGANIZATION
InSight Crime Events – Border Crime: The Northern Triangle and Tri-Border Area
ARGENTINA
/
25 JAN 2021
Through several rounds of extensive field investigations, our researchers have analyzed and mapped out the main illicit economies and criminal groups present in 39 border departments spread across the six countries of study – the Northern Triangle trio of Guatemala, Honduras, and El…
BRIEF
InSight Crime’s ‘Memo Fantasma’ Investigation Wins Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize
COLOMBIA
/
20 NOV 2020
The staff at InSight Crime was awarded the prestigious Simón Bolívar national journalism prize in Colombia for its two-year investigation into the drug trafficker known as “Memo Fantasma,” which was…
ANALYSIS
InSight Crime – From Uncovering Organized Crime to Finding What Works
COLOMBIA
/
12 NOV 2020
This project began 10 years ago as an effort to address a problem: the lack of daily coverage, investigative stories and analysis of organized crime in the Americas. …
ANALYSIS
InSight Crime – Ten Years of Investigating Organized Crime in the Americas
FEATURED
/
2 NOV 2020
In early 2009, Steven Dudley was in Medellín, Colombia. His assignment: speak to a jailed paramilitary leader in the Itagui prison, just south of the city. Following his interview inside…