Transnational criminal networks in Latin America reportedly make an average of $550,000 a day selling stolen cellular phones, highlighting the potential profits in a trade that appears to be increasingly…
More than 2,000 working-class families in an Ecuador slum were tricked into buying small plots of land that were never for sale, in an example of a regional crime that…
In the second of this two-part series, authors Alejandra S. Inzunza and Pablo Ferri write about the impact of foreign crime and cocaine transit on the province of Manabi in…
Ecuador has become a maritime drug transfer point for traffickers from Mexico and Colombia. The fishing boats are hijacked or used as service stations, and the ports are a major…
Authorities in Ecuador have seized 10 tons of drugs during the first months of 2014, highlighting both major drug transit through the country and the growth of the domestic market,…
Authorities in Ecuador say two large cocaine seizures off the country's coast belonged to Mexico's Familia Michoacana. However, the fact they are basing this assertion on generic packaging logos, coupled…
Prosecutors in Ecuador are investigating a wave of extortions believed to have been carried out by the same criminal group, raising the question of what effect the growing presence of…
Investigations into a group offering fraudulent documents to migrants in Ecuador has revealed the increasing sophistication, international connections and corruption of state institutions by human smuggling organizations, operating in a…
Authorities in Ecuador have declared over 80 percent of cocaine seized in the country this year was destined for Europe, evidence of a shifting dynamic in the global drug market…
Fifty-five inmates escaped from an Ecuador prison by rushing the guards at an undermanned gate, evidence of the rapid overcrowding of Ecuador's under-resourced prison system, as well as alleged official…
The prison population in Ecuador has risen dramatically in the past four years, a phenomenon tied to the overuse of preventive detention, but also likely linked to the country's ever-growing…
Ecuador is developing new technology to track chemicals used in drug production as they move through the country, in a step that could be undermined by the adaptability of drug…
About InSight Crime
InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board
This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…
InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan
InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…
InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation
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…
Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper
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…
InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate
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…
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