This investigation tells the stories of Carolina and Karen, two survivors of sexual violence by Hernán Giraldo, one of Colombia’s most infamous paramilitary commanders. They are part of over 200 girls and women who were abused by Giraldo and his men in the northern Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range.
Giraldo used sexual abuse and rape to cement his absolute control over local populations and dominate this part of Colombia from the 1990s until the early 2000s. Years later, Karen and Carolina continue to suffer from the physical and psychological scars of these crimes as they try to move on with their lives.
It was 7:00 at night. Carolina was lying in bed and turned on the TV just as a news reporter announced: “One of the most bloodthirsty paramilitary leaders of the…
After running for hours, Carolina, 21, arrived in the city of Santa Marta with her family in 2000. Their feet were full of blisters and they had nothing but the…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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