Paraguay issued its first-ever medical cannabis licenses this February, marking a major shift for the marijuana-producing country while raising questions about its approach to fighting illegal cultivation.
Two new books aim to reorient understanding of the foundations of drug policy: the first a nuanced exploration of the historical intersection of drugs and war, the second a fiery…
For the second consecutive year, some of Latin America’s leading academics and experts in the field of organized crime convened in the Colombian capital of Bogotá on December 3 to…
In January 2019, heavily armed gunmen traveling in a truck and on a motorbike ambushed a small group of anti-narcotics agents in Sucumbíos, the Ecuadorean province that borders Colombia in…
For the Ecuadorean province of Esmeraldas on the Pacific side of the Colombia border, 2019 began with a warning that the horrors of the past year were no aberration.
Little attention is paid to Ecuador. The murder rate is low, and there are no drug cartels like those that have dominated the criminal landscape in Mexico and Colombia. Yet…
The Colombian government has been lauding the success of its stringent targets for the eradication of coca crops nationwide, but with replanting rates estimated at up to 67 percent, the…
A pilot study in Mexico is showing promising results for measuring the frequency and type of drugs being used across the country by measuring metabolites in wastewater.
With Argentina set to vote for its next president on October 27, the ongoing campaign has given hints of how the candidates would tackle the country’s evolving criminal dynamics.
The Argentine government’s new strategy to detect and categorize the chemical components of new illicit substances, looks to confront the country’s growing synthetic drug market.
Venezuela’s anti-narcotics agency reported that marijuana made up 80 percent of the country’s drug seizures in the first six months of 2019, contradicting reports from international organizations that point to…
A new UN study shows that while Colombia saw a slight drop in coca crop plantations between 2017 and 2018, this has not a knock-on impact on cocaine production, which…
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InSight Crime Events – Border Crime: The Northern Triangle and Tri-Border Area
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…
InSight Crime’s ‘Memo Fantasma’ Investigation Wins Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize
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…
InSight Crime – From Uncovering Organized Crime to Finding What Works
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. …
InSight Crime – Ten Years of Investigating Organized Crime in the Americas
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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