The Amazon is being plundered at an accelerating rate. Deforesters across Bolivia and Ecuador are emboldened to clear trees for agribusiness.
Environmental crime is driving deforestation across the Amazon, where some parts are now emitting more carbon dioxide than they absorb.
While there are some efforts to build resilience, including the passing of new legislative frameworks and some other signs of political willingness to tackle the problem, there is still a…
From unchecked agricultural development to wildlife trafficking, corruption greases the wheels of every environmental crime in the Peruvian Amazon.
Illegal gold mining drives the destruction of Peru's Amazon, where fortune seekers strip forests and leave behind poisonous pools of mercury.
Peru’s Amazon, which covers nearly half of the Andean country, is rich in biodiversity and critical to the capture of carbon, which mitigates global warming. Political instability and corruption, however,…
Large-scale illegal gold mining is operating in plain sight on the Lawa River, a natural border between French Guiana and Suriname, despite public efforts from both governments to end the…
Authorities have extended a state of emergency in Peru’s illegal coal mining heartland, already mired in criminality, following a sharp rise in killings as gangs battle for control of lucrative…
An alleged deal between government officials and illegal miners in Brazil’s Amazon led to the latter being provided with weapons in order to better secure their illicit earnings and fend…
There was record destruction of the Amazon in 2020, as the rainforest lost an area around the size of Belize, and the situation looks to be even bleaker in 2021.
At around 11 p.m. on April 6, 2020, Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Solís was returning to the military base he commanded near the town of Tumeremo in the eastern Venezuela state…
On November 5, 2019, threatening pamphlets appeared on the streets of El Callao, a mining town in Venezuela's eastern state of Bolívar.
About InSight Crime
Escaping Barrio 18
Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…
Europe Coverage Makes a Splash
Last week, InSight Crime published an analysis of the role of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport as an arrival hub for cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico. The article was picked up by…
World Looks to InSight Crime for Mexico Expertise
Our coverage of the arrest of Chapitos’ co-founder Ovidio Guzmán López in Mexico has received worldwide attention.In the UK, outlets including The Independent and BBC…
InSight Crime Shares Expertise with US State Department
Last week, InSight Crime Co-founder Steven Dudley took part in the International Anti-Corruption Conference organized by the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, & Labor and…
Immediate Response to US-Mexico Marijuana Investigation
InSight Crime’s investigation into how the legalization of marijuana in many US states has changed Mexico’s criminal dynamics made a splash this week appearing on the front page of…
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