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…
Though it’s his younger brother who will be in the courtroom facing drug trafficking charges, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández will also be judged in the coming weeks for running…
As his final extradition orders were being read and signed, a drug trafficker known as “El Negro” Lobo paced in his small holding cell. He was minutes away from…
On a December morning in 2018, Javier Erazo, known as “El Huita,” took to his hammock after a horseback ride at his farm in Ocotepeque, a town on the western…
The announcement in late August that three important former leaders of the demobilized FARC were returning to war did not only threaten the fragile Colombian peace agreement but raised questions…
Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández assumed the presidency as a so-called “crime fighter” that the United States could collaborate closely with to rid his Central American nation of corruption and…
The former mayor who may bring down Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández first appears on page eight of what can only be described as one of the most jaw-dropping condemnations…
While Colombia is known for its vast coca fields, the hillsides of its Cauca region are covered in another illicit crop: highly potent marijuana.
Authorities in Colombia have arrested an infamous former paramilitary warlord after he returned to the Andean nation upon finishing his US prison sentence for drug charges, raising concerns about his possible…
Thousands of police and military have swept through the north Ecuador district of Buenos Aires in an attempt to control the illegal mining boom that has ravaged the region, but…
About InSight Crime
Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua Becomes Truly Transnational
This week, InSight Crime published a deep dive into the total control that Venezuelan mega-gang, Tren de Aragua, has over the lives of those it smuggles between Venezuela and Chile…
Turkish Traffickers Delivering Latin American Cocaine to Persian Gulf
Last week, InSight Crime published the second half of an investigation piecing together the emerging role of Turkish cocaine traffickers in supplying Russia and the Persian Gulf, which are among…
Turkey as a Lynchpin in European Cocaine Pipeline
InSight Crime is extending its investigation into the cocaine pipeline to Europe, and tracking the growing connections between Latin American drug traffickers and European criminal organizations. This led us to…
Memo Fantasma Coverage Gets Worldwide Attention
Guillermo Acevedo, the former Colombian drug lord and paramilitary commander better known as Memo Fantasma, may soon be allowed to leave prison. Since first revealing the identity of Memo Fantasma…
Who Are Memo Fantasma and Sergio Roberto de Carvalho?
Inside the criminal career of Memo Fantasma In March 2020, InSight Crime revealed the identity and whereabouts of Memo Fantasma, a paramilitary commander and drug trafficker living in…
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