All About Megabandas

NEWS

El Coqui’s Ambition Fuels Urban Warfare in Caracas

MEGABANDAS / 22 FEB 2021

Recent shootouts between security forces and Venezuela's El Coqui gang included a clash in which at least two dozen people were gunned down, and experts warn of continued violence as…

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…

Venezuela’s Gangs Push Deeper Into Colombia

COLOMBIA / 14 JUL 2020

Authorities in Colombia have captured several Venezuelan gang members, alarming officials who say that the groups are playing out rivalries from their home country while worming their way into local…

The Hunt for ‘Wilexis’ – Manufactured Mayhem in Petare, Venezuela

ELITES AND CRIME / 29 MAY 2020

A complex game of cat-and-mouse has unfolded over the last two weeks in one of Caracas’s most infamous neighborhoods, revealing how the Maduro regime tries to manipulate gang rivalries to…

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?…

Venezuela Reports Show FAES Police Unit Targeting Key Megabandas

COLECTIVOS / 2 JAN 2020

A slew of media reports from Venezuela appear to show an elite police unit, blamed for numerous extrajudicial executions, going after two of the country's powerful criminal organizations in recent…

Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua Gang Seeks to Grow Inside Brazil Prisons

BRAZIL / 26 SEP 2019

Members of Venezuela's large and dangerous Tren del Aragua gang are actively trying to expand their group's influence in the Brazilian prisons where they are incarcerated. …

Venezuelan Megabanda Leader Reportedly Operating from Inside Colombia

COLOMBIA / 27 AUG 2019

The leader of a notorious Venezuelan gang is reportedly operating from Colombia, highlighting how criminal networks from the crisis-stricken state are expanding into neighboring countries.

Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua Gang Muscling into Colombia Border Area

COLOMBIA / 10 JUL 2019

The arrest of members from a major Venezuelan gang, the Tren de Aragua, in the border state of Táchira reveals the expansion of this powerful group into what is already one…

Venezuela Disease Outbreaks Reveal Criminal Migration to Illegal Gold Mines

ILLEGAL MINING / 19 JUN 2019

Outbreaks of malaria and diphtheria in a region of Venezuela where these diseases are rare has revealed how armed groups are organizing a vast migration to illegal mines.

Salsa, Gunshots and Impunity at Venezuela Megabanda Funeral

MEGABANDAS / 6 JUN 2019

A well-known salsa singer's performance at the wake of members of a so-called megabanda in Caracas underscores how far criminal impunity goes in Venezuela.

Venezuela Gang Muscles Into Trinidad and Tobago, Others May Follow

CARIBBEAN / 20 MAY 2019

A Venezuelan criminal gang has migrated to the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago -- sounding alarms about the expansion of organized crime elements to the islands amid Venezuela's collapse.

Op-Ed: Organized Crime Tightens its Grip on Venezuela

COLOMBIA / 17 MAY 2019

Juan Guaidó tried to bluff Nicólas Maduro at the Venezuelan political poker table, pretending he had the enough of the military in his hand to take the pot. He failed,…

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THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Events – Border Crime: The Northern Triangle and Tri-Border Area

ARGENTINA / 25 JAN 2021

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…

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InSight Crime’s ‘Memo Fantasma’ Investigation Wins Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize

COLOMBIA / 20 NOV 2020

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…

ANALYSIS

InSight Crime – From Uncovering Organized Crime to Finding What Works

COLOMBIA / 12 NOV 2020

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. …

ANALYSIS

InSight Crime – Ten Years of Investigating Organized Crime in the Americas

FEATURED / 2 NOV 2020

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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