Investigating organized crime is an expensive and often risky enterprise. Reaching primary sources and getting the real story involve extensive fieldwork. Please donate. Every dollar supports our mission.
DONATE NOW
Criminal Actors
Histories and profiles of organized crime groups, insurgencies, street gangs, vigilantes and the criminal actors that lead them.
Copán, Honduras
COCAINE
/
16 FEB 2021
In Copán – a major transit point for cocaine – drug trafficking groups collaborate with local authorities to smuggle narcotics over the department’s porous western border with Guatemala.
Intibucá, Honduras
GEOGRAPHIC PROFILES
/
16 FEB 2021
Intibucá is not a major organized crime hub, though there is a notable gang presence along the department’s porous southern…
Valle, Honduras
COCAINE
/
16 FEB 2021
Valle is an important transit point for cocaine being shipped from South America to Honduras, bound for other Central American…
Ocotepeque, Honduras
COCAINE
/
16 FEB 2021
Corruptible customs officials and porous borders facilitate the smuggling of migrants and drugs from Ocotepeque into Guatemala, along with flows of…
La Paz, Honduras
ELITES AND CRIME
/
16 FEB 2021
The department of La Paz does not house any major transnational criminal economies or established criminal actors.
Santa Bárbara, Honduras
COCAINE
/
16 FEB 2021
Santa Bárbara sees its fair share of narcotics seizures and has played host to major drug trafficking groups such as…
Lempira, Honduras
ELITES AND CRIME
/
16 FEB 2021
Lempira is not a major hub for organized criminal activity but is nonetheless an important transit point for illicit narcotics…
Honduras Profile
HONDURAS
/
FEBRUARY 15, 2021
Honduras, long one of the poorest countries in Latin America, is now also among the most violent and crime-ridden. The…
Escritório do Crime
BRAZIL GROUPS
/
15 FEB 2021
Escritório do Crime (Office of Crime) is one of the largest and most powerful militia groups in Brazil’s second-largest city,…
Chiquimula, Guatemala
COCAINE
/
22 JAN 2021
Chiquimula is a transit point and hub for drug trafficking. It also has marijuana production and a vibrant contraband and…
Izabal, Guatemala
GEOGRAPHIC PROFILES
/
22 JAN 2021
Izabal is one of the most important transit hubs for cocaine being smuggled from Honduras into Guatemala by land, as…
Zacapa, Guatemala
GEOGRAPHIC PROFILES
/
22 JAN 2021
In the department of Zacapa, long a transit point for cocaine and marijuana bound for Mexico and the US, drug…
Latest
Extermination Sites - The New Depths of Mexico's Disappearance Crisis
HUMAN RIGHTS
/
4 AUG 2021
Families of Mexico's disappeared are turning to local cartel leaders for help searching for their loved ones amid government inaction, as the discovery of dozens of extermination camps alongside clandestine…
3 Takeaways from Jovenel Moïse’s Murder Investigation in Haiti
CARIBBEAN
/
3 AUG 2021
Nearly a month after the midnight assassination of former Haiti President Jovenel Moïse, many of the details about the murder plot remain murky despite scores of arrests.
A Blend of Family and Politics in Guatemala's Cocaine Trade
COCAINE
/
3 AUG 2021
An anti-narcotics operation in western Guatemala has shed further light on how families involved in local politics can play a pivotal role in the regional cocaine trade.
Investigations
Chapters
#SupportFreePress
Support Our Work
Stay Informed with Weekly InSight
Get fresh updates on organized crime from across the region delivered to your inbox.
SUBSCRIBE