GameChangers

All About GameChangers

ANALYSIS

GameChangers 2020: Predictions for 2021 - Shaking Off the Virus

COVID AND CRIME / 31 DEC 2020

Organized crime had to tighten its belt in 2020, and pickings remain lean as world economies contract and movement is restricted. Yet this crisis is likely to be a temporary…

GameChangers 2020: Tren de Aragua and the Exportation of Venezuelan Organized Crime

COCAINE / 30 DEC 2020

Venezuela has long been known as a strategic rearguard for Colombia guerrilla groups. Yet 2020 saw the acceleration of a newer dynamic: Venezuelan gangs now rival their Colombian counterparts in…

GameChangers 2020: 3 Ways Criminal Groups Overcame Coronavirus

BRAZIL MILITIAS / 29 DEC 2020

As COVID-19 threatened the well-being of the populations they depend on for criminal income, it was largely in the interest of criminal groups to try and keep the pandemic under…

GameChangers 2020: The Resurgence of the Central American Cocaine Highway

CACHIROS / 28 DEC 2020

A rush of drug plane traffic from South America, coupled with traffickers smuggling large cocaine shipments after coronavirus border restrictions eased, led to a surge in narcotics transiting Central America…

GameChangers 2020: How Black Markets Became the New Normal

CONTRABAND / 23 DEC 2020

In a region where 50 percent of the population already makes its living in the informal market, it was perhaps of little surprise that black markets exploded in 2020 amidst…

GameChangers 2020: Conflicting US Approach to Latin America Organized Crime

COCA / 22 DEC 2020

President-elect Joe Biden has a chance to reset the table on US-Latin American relations, but the Donald Trump administration’s schizophrenic, transactional approach may leave some lasting scars that will be…

GameChangers 2020:  How Organized Crime Survived the Pandemic

BARRIO 18 / 21 DEC 2020

Welcome to InSight Crime’s Criminal GameChangers 2020, where we highlight the most important trends in organized crime in the Americas over the course of the year. …

GameChangers 2019: 10 Predictions for Organized Crime in 2020

BOLIVIA / 24 JAN 2020

The year was one of political tumult, fed in no small part by organized crime and its favored weapon: corruption. The region appeared to take a step backwards during the…

GameChangers 2019: Latin America’s Top 10 Criminal Groups

BARRIO 18 / 22 JAN 2020

Colombia’s last rebel army is now the most powerful criminal syndicate in Latin America, as it expands across Colombia and far into Venezuela, deepening its involvement in the drug trade.

GameChangers 2019: Illegal Mining, Latin America’s Go-To Criminal Economy

ECUADOR / 20 JAN 2020

The criminal, economic and political dynamics behind illegal gold rushes this past year in Venezuela and Ecuador were very different. But both countries illustrate the same trend: that illegal mining…

GameChangers 2019: As Venezuela Sinks, Maduro’s Criminal Ties Keep Him Afloat

CARTEL DE LOS SOLES / 18 JAN 2020

Venezuela remained mired in crisis throughout 2019, yet Nicolás Maduro actually consolidated his regime. How did he do it?…

GameChangers 2019: Northern Triangle Countries to Fight Corruption Alone, if at All

EL SALVADOR / 17 JAN 2020

The year 2019 saw the end of a brief golden era when local and international forces came together to fight state and private corruption in the Northern Triangle.

GameChangers 2019: Mexico’s Body Count Soars as AMLO Out of Ideas

FEATURED / 16 JAN 2020

It was always going to be a thankless task. When President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office in December of 2018, Mexico was undergoing the most violent year in its…

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About InSight Crime

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THE ORGANIZATION

Unraveling the Web of Elites Connected to Organized Crime

27 JUL 2021

InSight Crime published Elites and Organized Crime in Nicaragua, a deep dive into the relationships between criminal actors and elites in that Central American nation.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Greater Focus on US-Mexico Border

20 JUL 2021

InSight Crime has decided to turn many of its investigative resources towards understanding and chronicling the criminal dynamics along the US-Mexico border.

THE ORGANIZATION

Key Arrests and Police Budget Increases Due to InSight Crime Investigations

8 JUL 2021

With Memo Fantasma’s arrest, InSight Crime has proven that our investigations can and will uncover major criminal threats in the Americas.

THE ORGANIZATION

Organized Crime’s Influence on Gender-Based Violence

30 JUN 2021

InSight Crime investigator Laura N. Ávila spoke on organized crime and gender-based violence at the launch of a research project by the United Nations Development Programme.