In Central America’s Northern Triangle, organized crime has permeated national politics by corrupting local governments. This series presents the stories of three mayors in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, exploring the links between power, drug trafficking rings, gangs and corruption.
Electing Criminals: Municipal Power and Organized Crime in the Northern Triangle
EL SALVADOR
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2 NOV 2017
Chapter 1
Guatemala Mayor ‘Tres Kiebres’: The Art of Being ‘3 Times Broken’
ELITES AND CRIME
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11 OCT 2017
The atmosphere was light, almost jovial, as Ipala's Mayor Esduin Javier turned to the next item on the agenda. The issue was what the people at the municipality's monthly town…
Chapter 2
A Honduras Political Clan and Its Criminal Fiefdom
ELITES AND CRIME
/
19 OCT 2017
It was around midnight that police in a rural area of the northern department of Olancho first heard the distinctive buzz of a low-flying aircraft. Night duty officers in three…
Chapter 3
Symbiosis: Gangs and Municipal Power in Apopa, El Salvador
BARRIO 18
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2 NOV 2017
Stories such as that of the former mayor of the El Salvador municipality of Apopa, José Elías Hernández, or "Old Timer" as the gangs knew him, are increasingly…
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GUATEMALA
/
23 APR 2014
Press in Guatemala have confirmed one of the main players in appointing the country's new attorney general is under investigation…
CHEPE LUNA
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10 JUL 2014
Drug trafficker-turned-transport tycoon "Chepe Luna," shot dead in Honduras last month, will be survived by his web of corruption, with an…
EL SALVADOR
/
21 JAN 2014
Extortion fees demanded by gangs from El Salvador's bus companies have doubled in the past year to $3 million per…
About InSight Crime
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THE ORGANIZATION
InSight Crime Events – Border Crime: The Northern Triangle and Tri-Border Area
ARGENTINA
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25 JAN 2021
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…
BRIEF
InSight Crime’s ‘Memo Fantasma’ Investigation Wins Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize
COLOMBIA
/
20 NOV 2020
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…
ANALYSIS
InSight Crime – From Uncovering Organized Crime to Finding What Works
COLOMBIA
/
12 NOV 2020
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. …
ANALYSIS
InSight Crime – Ten Years of Investigating Organized Crime in the Americas
FEATURED
/
2 NOV 2020
In early 2009, Steven Dudley was in Medellín, Colombia. His assignment: speak to a jailed paramilitary leader in the Itagui prison, just south of the city. Following his interview inside…
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