The Gaitanistas, also known as the Gulf Clan, Urabeños, and Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia – AGC), emerged from the ashes of Colombia’s paramilitary movement to become the dominant criminal force in Colombia.
The drug-trafficking bands competing for territory near the Colombia's Caribbean coast may be willing to negotiate their surrender to authorities, according to the bishop of Monteria, whose diocese, the…
Colombian authorities have announced a renewed offensive in the coastal province of Cordoba, where drug-trafficking gangs are clashing over the control of key smuggling routes to the Caribbean.
Dairo Antonio Úsuga, alias “Otoniel,” was the head of the AGC, Colombia's main drug trafficking group, until his arrest in October 2021.
Juan de Dios Usuga, alias "Giovanni," headed the Urabeños' military wing while the group was under the command of Daniel Rendon Herrera, alias "Don Mario."…
La Guajira is one of Colombia's most contentious states. Nestled along the northern coast and the Venezuelan border, the area serves as a stage, depot, production and processing point for…
La Guajira, the oft-forgotten, arid northeast corner of Colombia is one of Colombias most contentious and provides a window into the complexity of the current battles underway between organized criminal…
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’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…
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…
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…
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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