The forest fires that have blazed across Paraguay in recent weeks seem to have been, in part, started by criminal groups seeking to clear space for more marijuana plantations.
A massive robbery of nearly 38,000 cancer drugs from a warehouse in Mexico City points to a growing sophistication in the country’s lucrative black market for medicine, with those involved…
Argentina’s strategic location and booming consumer market has made it a major transshipment point for illegal drugs like marijuana, and a growing number of seizures has raised questions about how…
Police in Peru have recently seized large quantities of contraband cigarettes in one of the capital’s most populous districts, in what is just the latest reflection of the regional boom…
It was March 2020, not long after fear of the coronavirus began spreading across the Americas, when several major criminal groups started employing their own form of a lockdown.
From mostly being a lower-level criminal annoyance, oil theft has spread across Latin America during the coronavirus pandemic as a way for gangs to supply thriving black markets, sidestep official…
A spate of deaths following the consumption of adulterated alcohol suggest pandemic restrictions on alcohol sales have encouraged the expansion of a perilous black market in Mexico.
Four Indigenous leaders in Peru's Amazon have been murdered since the government declared a state of emergency over COVID-19, revealing how their opposition to illegal logging, mining and drug trafficking…
A black market for an antiviral drug used to treat coronavirus has emerged in Venezuela, revealing that even expensive, lifesaving medicines are fueling the lucrative illegal trade.
Inmate deaths have doubled in Venezuela's jails during the coronavirus pandemic, a crisis that underscores how the country's anarchic prisons foment violence and spread disease.
A series of police operations in Brazil have shown that the poaching of exotic species appears to have exploded during the pandemic, as job losses and a lack of government…
The coronavirus pandemic sparked a shift in Colombia as criminal actors the nation over sought to profit from the sudden change in conditions, the refocusing of state priorities and a…
About InSight Crime
Escaping Barrio 18
Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…
Europe Coverage Makes a Splash
Last week, InSight Crime published an analysis of the role of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport as an arrival hub for cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico. The article was picked up by…
World Looks to InSight Crime for Mexico Expertise
Our coverage of the arrest of Chapitos’ co-founder Ovidio Guzmán López in Mexico has received worldwide attention.In the UK, outlets including The Independent and BBC…
InSight Crime Shares Expertise with US State Department
Last week, InSight Crime Co-founder Steven Dudley took part in the International Anti-Corruption Conference organized by the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, & Labor and…
Immediate Response to US-Mexico Marijuana Investigation
InSight Crime’s investigation into how the legalization of marijuana in many US states has changed Mexico’s criminal dynamics made a splash this week appearing on the front page of…
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