Colombia's internal drug market has grown over the past few decades and is now worth an estimated $2 billion, a trend driven by changing economic and criminal dynamics in the…
Costa Rica has seen an increase in cannabis growing operations that use more sophisticated cultivation methods, a possible result of increased demand fueled by foreign visitors looking for higher-quality marijuana.
Police operations are cracking down on one of Panama's two main rival gangs at a time when the local groups are becoming increasingly involved in transnational organized crime.
Sam Quiñones' recent book blends separate but overlapping stories of business triumph: pharmaceutical giants' US promotion of powerful narcotics like OxyContin as the painkiller of choice in the 1990s, and the…
A massive security operation in Bogotá's nefarious Bronx neighborhood reveals how powerful microtrafficking gangs in the city have become -- and the Colombian government's lack of a long-term plan for…
A new report that tracks the variables linked to drug seizures in Colombia's major cities could help inform the government's approach against microtrafficking.
The latest report by the International Narcotics Control Board illustrates the region-wide correlation between developments in drug trafficking, drug use and criminal violence in Latin America.
According to a top Uruguayan government official, the recidivism rate for low-level drug offenders is 100 percent, a phenomenon that many other Latin American countries will have to confront…
Ecuador's Congress approved tougher penalties for small-time drug traffickers, an about-face from a more liberal policy which may have been prompted by the president's stated "zero tolerance" approach to heroin…
Ecuador's authorities say they are shifting their security focus to curbing neighborhood level drug peddling, raising questions about the priorities of a country that serves as a major international transshipment…
Recent bloodshed in Costa Rica's capital has been attributed to gangs battling for control of local drug sales, furthering concerns that the country's development as a major drug transit zone…
An admitted drug trafficker in the Dominican Republic claimed several police agencies charged her a fee to sell drugs, an accusation that comes just days after charges against several high-level…
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InSight Crime Events – Border Crime: The Northern Triangle and Tri-Border Area
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…
InSight Crime’s ‘Memo Fantasma’ Investigation Wins Simón Bolívar National Journalism Prize
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…
InSight Crime – From Uncovering Organized Crime to Finding What Works
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. …
InSight Crime – Ten Years of Investigating Organized Crime in the Americas
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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