Venezuela Oil Crisis May Set Limits on PDVSA Impunity
Venezuelan officials may have finally met a PDVSA corruption scandal they cannot allow to go unpunished, hinting at just how dire the country’s oil and gas shortage has become.
El Coqui’s Ambition Fuels Urban Warfare in Caracas
Recent shootouts between security forces and Venezuela's El Coqui gang included a clash in which at least two dozen people were gunned down, and experts warn of continued violence as…
FARC Victims Claim Compensation from Venezuelan State Oil Company
A US court case seeks to compensate victims of the FARC with assets seized from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, in the latest push by US prosecutors to establish legal…
Venezuela’s Other Plight: Sex Trafficking in Trinidad and Tobago
Ongoing interceptions targeting sex trafficking rings operating between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago have revealed the extent to which Venezuelan women and minors are being continually smuggled to the island…
Human Trafficking Accompanies Illegal Mining in Venezuela’s Orinoco
A new report on human trafficking in Venezuela's Bolívar state shows that forced labor camps and sex trafficking rings are rampant in the region's illegal mines.
Contraband Cheese From Venezuela on Colombia’s Criminal Menu
Cheese has increasingly joined oil and other commodities smuggled along the border between Colombia and Venezuela, and criminal groups are milking the profits.
Venezuela Reports Show FAES Police Unit Targeting Key Megabandas
A slew of media reports from Venezuela appear to show an elite police unit, blamed for numerous extrajudicial executions, going after two of the country's powerful criminal organizations in recent…
Tankers Go Dark to Help Venezuela Evade Oil Sanctions
Venezuela is using “invisible” tankers to secretly export its oil reserves, enabling a renewed uptick in exports that could help President Nicolás Maduro withstand the pressure of international sanctions.
Guyana’s Mining Region is Open Door to Venezuelan Organized Crime
A recent Crisis Group report explores criminal dynamics in the Guyanese mining region bordering Venezuela, revealing how the chaos and violence of Venezuela’s mining arc is spilling over into the…
Is There a Link Between the Dollarization of Venezuela and Organized Crime?
A year ago, the use of the US dollar was practically banned for Venezuelans. Transactions in dollars were under severe restrictions and the unlicensed use of the US currency…
Venezuela Mulling Outlandish Plan to Access Frozen Gold in London
A little-known British financier has been wooing Venezuelan officials with an outlandish plan to liberate $1.5 billion of Venezuelan gold retained in the Bank of England, highlighting the Maduro government’s…
Carlos Luis Revete, alias ‘El Coqui’
Carlos Luis Revette, alias “El Coqui,” is one of Venezuela’s most wanted criminals and leader of the “megabanda" that controls the Cota 905 district to the southwest of Caracas.
About InSight Crime
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InSight Crime is looking for a full-time strategic communications manager. This person needs to be able to work in a fast-paced world of daily news, high-profile investigations, national and international…
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InSight Crime Events – Border Crime: The Northern Triangle and Tri-Border Area
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…
InSight Crime’s ‘Memo Fantasma’ Investigation Wins Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize
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…
InSight Crime – From Uncovering Organized Crime to Finding What Works
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. …
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