Videos Show FMLN Leaders Offering El Salvador Gangs $10 Mn in Micro-credit
Two videos reveal another layer of secret negotiations between El Salvadors ruling party, the FMLN, and leaders of the three main gangs in El Salvador. One involves the former Minister…
Blood Thicker Than Water? US Accusations Put Honduras President in Difficult Spot
The US governments recent accusations against several alleged drug traffickers, among them military officials, have placed Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández in an impossible position: between some of his staunchest…
High Profile Honduras Murder Case File Stolen
In an incredible turn of events, the case file in the murder of Honduras' activist Berta Cáceres was apparently stolen, leaving the government and the international community searching for…
Reactions, Clarifications, Corrections: Elites, Organized Crime and the CICIG
(*This story was updated September 9.) InSight Crime has received numerous letters following the September 1 publication of its investigation "Elites and Organized Crime: CICIG." In the interest…
Guatemala Elites and Organized Crime: The CICIG
Like any arm of the justice system, the United Nations-backed International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad en Guatemala - CICIG) had its battles with elites…
Guatemala Elites and Organized Crime: The 'Huistas'
In the northwest corner of Guatemala, a little known criminal organization known as the "Huistas" dominates the underworld, in large part due its ties with businessmen, law enforcement officials and…
Guatemala Elites and Organized Crime: Introduction
Guatemala is Central Americas most populous country and its largest economy. But an intransigent elite, an ambitious military and a weak state has opened the way for organized crime to…
A Bomb Explodes, a Gang Purges Its Own, Guatemala Scratches Its Head
When a small explosive device was detonated remotely in a bus in Guatemala this past March, authorities were alarmed. Then gang leaders apologized and purged the perpetrators, leaving authorities confused.
Colombia Elites and Organized Crime: 'Jorge 40'
Rodrigo Tovar Pupo never imagined it would come to this: dressed in an orange jumpsuit in a Washington DC courtroom and standing in front of a United States federal judge,…
The Murder of Guatemala’s Prison ‘King’ Byron Lima: A 'Self-Coup d’etat'? (Part III)
Shortly after Otto Pérez Molina was elected president of Guatemala, Byron Lima Oliva, the once-decorated former army captain, jailed for the murder of a bishop, sat down to write an…
The Byron Lima Murder in Guatemala: A 'Crime of the State'? (Part II)
On July 18, the day former Army Capt. Byron Lima -- Guatemalas one-time king of the prison system -- was killed in an apparent squabble with another powerful inmate, his…
Who Killed Guatemala's Prison 'King' Byron Lima? (Part I)
In what will undoubtedly be the first of many official versions regarding the July 18 murder of Guatemalas most famous prisoner, Byron Lima, the governments civilian intelligence agency blamed a…