Investigations

INVESTIGATIONS

Escobar’s Former Hitman Takes the Road to 'Total Peace' in Medellín, Colombia

COLOMBIA / 13 SEP 2023

Pablo Escobar's former hitman, Henry Holguín, explains how he exchanged killing for peacebuilding ahead of Colombia's Total Peace talks.

How Corruption, Complicity Fuel Human Trafficking in Ciudad Juárez

HUMAN RIGHTS / 30 AUG 2023

Human trafficking is prevalent and pervasive in Ciudad Juárez, and relies on either direct state participation, malpractice, or indifference.

Death and Disappearance: Human Trafficking in Baja California

HUMAN RIGHTS / 30 AUG 2023

In Tijuana, local pimps often form part of small, family-based human trafficking networks, which can also work with organized crime groups.

Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border: Family Clans, Coyotes, or ‘Cartels’?

HUMAN RIGHTS / 30 AUG 2023

Human trafficking is one of the most complex and misunderstood criminal economies in the world. This is especially true along the US-Mexico border.

The Timebomb That Exploded Twice: Behind the Massacres in Honduras' Women's Prison

BARRIO 18 / 16 AUG 2023

The PNFAS has been the scene of two massacres. For years, the tension between Barrio 18 and MS13 escalated.

Expanding Drug Trafficking on Peru’s Borders With Colombia and Brazil

BRAZIL / 8 AUG 2023

The tri-border where Colombia, Brazil, and Venezuela meet has long served as a transit corridor for cocaine.

Challenges and Opportunities in Protecting Amazon Tri-Border Regions

BRAZIL / 8 AUG 2023

Legal protections for the Amazon rainforest are complicated by different domestic laws and competing interests across countries.

Environmental Crimes Plague Amazon’s Tri-Border Regions

BRAZIL / 8 AUG 2023

Deep in the vast jungle of the Amazon, critical primary forests are being razed to mine gold, grow coca, and harvest timber.

Digging Into a Toxic Trade: Illegal Mining in Amazon Tri-Border Regions

BRAZIL / 8 AUG 2023

Illegal mining is by far the most widespread and insidious environmental crime occurring in the Amazon’s tri-border regions.

Beneath the Surface of Timber Trafficking on the Peru-Colombia-Brazil Border

BRAZIL / 8 AUG 2023

In the Amazon’s tri-border areas, illegal logging is expanding, due to the low cost of land, and few controls on deforestation.

How Criminal Groups Helped Fill Venezuela's Post-Chávez Void

ELITES AND CRIME / 12 JUL 2023

Venezuela's Presidents Chávez and Maduro, to secure long-term power, ensured the country's criminal groups would answer to them.

Maduro's Peace Defender Squads Are Anything But Peaceful

COLECTIVOS / 12 JUL 2023

Extortion, black markets, repressing political opponents: The Cupaz react with brutal efficiency to opportunities across Venezuela.

The Future of Venezuela's Hybrid State

COLECTIVOS / 12 JUL 2023

President Maduro has proven highly resilient, weathering sanctions abroad and an economic crisis at home. His hybrid state creation helped him to do so.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Rights Watch Draws on InSight Crime's Haiti Coverage

18 AUG 2023

Non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch relied on InSight Crime's coverage this week, citing six articles and one of our criminal profiles in its latest report on the humanitarian…