The indictment of the wife of convicted Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera has revealed her alleged role in the organization, ranging from her husband's messenger to coordinating…
Ongoing interceptions targeting sex trafficking rings operating between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago have revealed the extent to which Venezuelan women and minors are being continually smuggled to the island…
The seizure of a cocaine-laced package, bound for Thailand, at an airport in Bolivia, shines light on the little-known drug trafficking route to south and southeastern Asia that relies on…
Labor initiatives inside women´s prisons in Latin America aim to improve employment opportunities for female inmates, so as to reduce the rate of repeat offenses. However, beyond prison walls, they…
Mexico’s longstanding femicide crisis has only worsened during the coronavirus lockdown, with the government coming in for severe criticism for its handling of the killings of women. According to Mexico’s…
Deadly violence within female prisons in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador is rare. But a spate of recent murders in a Honduran prison appears to be a warning sign that…
The rescue of three Venezuelan forced into sex trafficking in Mexico City has once again shone a spotlight on the ongoing violent treatment and deaths of Venezuelan migrants in the…
As has been reiterated throughout this report, the participation of women in organized criminal economies is becoming ever more relevant and is accelerating. Studies of this phenomenon, which have been…
Women’s participation in organized crime groups is not uniform. The diverse roles that women play in criminal economies allow us to characterize different types of participation, forming a spectrum that…
This section will discuss the main roles that women play in drug trafficking, human trafficking and migrant smuggling with a view to identifying the full…
In Latin America, the participation of women in organized crime has been in the shadow of academic and public policy debate due to the male dominance in the different criminal…
In Putumayo, as in much of Colombia, female coca growers face a difficult choice: obey armed groups and continue working in illegal economies, or put themselves at risk by seeking…
An MS13 linked gang in El Salvador known as the Black Widows has been convicted of forcing women to marry men and then killing their new husbands as part of a complex…
InSight Crime is looking for a full-time strategic communications manager. This person needs to be able to work in a fast-paced world of daily news, high-profile investigations, national and international…
Welcome to our new home page. We have revamped the site to create a better display and reader experience.
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…
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…
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. …
Get fresh updates on organized crime from across the region delivered to your inbox.
SUBSCRIBE