A Deep Dive Into Paraguay’s Criminal Dynamics and Its Borders

Paraguay’s commercial connections, its institutional weakness, and its rampant cannabis production have attracted transnational criminal groups, such as the PCC.

Join us on Thursday, February 25, 2021, for a discussion with our co-director, Steven Dudley, alongside InSight Crime project coordinator and researcher, Ángela Olaya, and our collaborator and researcher, Carlos Peris, who will take an in-depth look at organized crime in Paraguay and its borders. The event will be moderated by Juan Alberto Martens Mola, an expert on crime and security in Paraguay.

Date

25 Feb 2021

Time

3:00 pm

Where

Live broadcast  in  Spanish  on  YouTube  and in English  on Facebook  Live

Speakers

Steve Dudley co-director and co-founder of InSight Crime. Dudley is a senior fellow at American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies in Washington, DC. He is the former Bureau Chief of The Miami Herald in the Andean Region, and the author of two books: “Walking Ghosts: Murder and Guerrilla Politics in Colombia” (Routledge 2004) and “MS-13: The Making of America’s Most Notorious Gang” (Harper Collins 2020).

Ángela Olaya Castro is political scientist from the Andes University, Bogotá, with vast experience researching the relationship between armed conflict and organized crime. She is a senior researcher and project manager at InSight Crime, where she has coordinated the project “Border Crime: The Northern Triangle and the Tri-Border Area.” Previously, she led InSight Crime’s Colombian Organized Crime Observatory and was part of the investigative team that exposed the identity of invisible drug lord, “Memo Fantasma.”

Carlos Peris is a sociologist and researcher for Paraguay's National Council for Science and Technology (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Technología -- CONACYT). He is also the director of the Sociology, History and Political Science program at the Catholic University of Asunción. His research spans transborder drug trafficking, corruption and practices among the Paraguay National Police. Peris was also a doctoral intern at the University of Lisbon and a visiting research fellow at the National University of Yokohama. He has completed research training at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA) in Hamburg.