Analysis

ANALYSIS

Legitimate Businesses Used as Fronts for Human Trafficking in Argentina

ARGENTINA / 15 SEP 2022

Human traffickers in Argentina are using legitimate business to continue their illicit activities and elude authorities.

InSight Crime’s 2020 Homicide Round-Up

ARGENTINA / 29 JAN 2021

While unrest gripped much of Latin America in 2019, it was the coronavirus that took center stage and ripped through the region in 2020, upending everything from commercial trade to…

Political Elites Seek Again to Infiltrate Guatemala's High Court

ELITES AND CRIME / 29 JAN 2021

Guatemala's congress has named to the country's Constitutional Court a judge who is under investigation for obstruction of justice, in a brazen attempt by political mafias to infiltrate the country's…

Guatemala's Anti-Extortion Plan: A Legacy of Unkept Promises

BARRIO 18 / 29 JAN 2021

It was one of Alejandro Giammattei’s most emphatic promises. One year later, the Interior Ministry supported his strategy to reduce extortions by cutting off access to communication devices among the…

Migrants Killed in Mexico Took Treacherous Path

HOMICIDES / 28 JAN 2021

Nineteen people shot and burned in a Mexico border state near Texas is a macabre reminder that migrants being smuggled to the United States are targets of cartel violence.

Decades of Deforestation, Illegal Mining and Impunity in Nicaragua

ELITES AND CRIME / 27 JAN 2021

Nicaragua's Indio Maíz Biological Reserve, on the southern border with Costa Rica, is under assault.

Black Market Peso Exchange Evolving in United States

MEXICO / 26 JAN 2021

US federal prosecutors say a real-estate investment firm accepted millions in drug money, revealing how high-end real-estate ventures are being used to launder dirty cash at scale.

3 Unexplored Criminal Challenges Awaiting President Joe Biden

BRAZIL / 21 JAN 2021

President Joe Biden’s policy documents on Latin America tread familiar ground. But the region contains a range of other security and criminal threats that are of direct concern to the…

No Time to Wait: Biden's Security Challenges in Central America

EL SALVADOR / 20 JAN 2021

Given the challenges of a deadly pandemic, President Joe Biden could be forgiven for not having Central America’s security at the top of his agenda on day one, or 100…

MS13 Prison Releases Reinforce Potential Pact with El Salvador

BARRIO 18 / 20 JAN 2021

Though he did not have any apparent health problems, a top MS13 leader was transferred from a prison to a hospital in El Salvador -- a move approved by…

Mafia to Terrorists: How US Prosecutors Have Bent the Law to Fight MS13

BARRIO 18 / 18 JAN 2021

The recent decision by the US government to charge MS13’s top leaders in El Salvador with terrorism is either a sign of how little they understand the gang or a…

Liquid Gold - False COVID-19 Vaccines Emerge in Latin America

CONTRABAND / 18 JAN 2021

In 2021, the COVID-19 vaccine is liquid gold. As governments begin to roll out inoculation programs, criminal groups are taking advantage of the anxious interim, offering a range of scams…

6 Reasons Why the US Charged MS13 Leaders with Terrorism

BARRIO 18 / 15 JAN 2021

The US government’s terrorism case against the MS13 opens a new frontier in fighting international street gangs.

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…