News Analysis

Severed Pig Heads - Widespread Cartel Threats Against Mexican Police

Criminal groups in Mexico are posting in public lists of police they plan to kill, and the message often comes…

How Mexico's Cartels Have Learned Military Tactics

As violence has continued to rise in Mexico year after year, criminal groups have adopted an increasingly militarized approach to…

The Urabeños' Venezuela Gamble May Be Failing

The Urabeños, one of Colombia's dominant drug groups, are seemingly ramping up operations along the Colombia-Venezuela border – a gambit…

Record Remittances from US to Mexico Raise Money Laundering Concerns

The Mexican government is highlighting a record number of remittances sent back to the country by citizens living in the…

Express Kidnappings in Brazil's São Paulo Accelerate with Instant Pay App

The increasing use of an instant money transfer app is driving express kidnappings in the Brazilian city of São Paulo…

The Descent into Madness of Brazil’s Bank Robberies

The pictures shocked Brazil and the world. Bank robbers fleeing the scene at high speed in their getaway vehicle, with…

Truce or No Truce: Gangs in Haiti Control Aid Movement

More than two weeks after an earthquake devastated Haiti and killed at least 2,200 people, criminal gangs are still shaking…

The Zetas’ Model of Organized Crime is Leaving Mexico in Ruins

It was a Saturday, around 12:30 p.m. local time, when a caravan of three vehicles loaded with well-armed men and…

Cargo Ships Act as Trans-Atlantic Drug Carriers, With Crews Unaware

Police in Brazil have broken up a smuggling ring that had a curious modus operandi. For years, its divers strapped…

Tentacles of Illegal Octopus Trade Clutch Mexico Town

Seizures of illegally harvested octopus off Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula are shedding light on how corruption in a coastal community facilitates…

Bombs Away - Dynamite Smugglers Sell to Illegal Mines in Peru

Authorities in Peru have dismantled a ring that sold explosives to gangs involved in illegal mining, showing how dangerous products…

Indigenous Latest to Suffer Plague of Disappearances in Sonora, Mexico

The ongoing search for members of Mexico’s Yaqui Indigenous community, missing for well over a month, has become a rallying…