The Unlikely Resistance of a Lone Mining Gang in Venezuela

The escalating violence between security forces and a gang that formerly enjoyed official protection in Venezuela's foremost mining region shows how the breakdown of criminal and political alliances can lead…

Dirty Business - The Smuggling Pipeline Carrying Mercury Across the Amazon

Smuggling networks are feeding illegal mining operations across the Amazon Basin with mercury, despite global efforts to clamp down on the use of the substance.

Digging Into Dirty Gold Across the Americas

Illegal gold mining is devastating South America's jungles. The trade has been destroying large swaths of forest and flooding rivers with toxic mercury at an alarming rate.

Brazil's Mining Regulator No Match For Illegal Gold Rush

The Brazilian agency that inspects mining sites and seizes illegally mined ore is vastly understaffed, a consequence of a government that has given free rein to the mining sector.

A Toxic Trade: Illegal Mining in Colombia's Pacific Region

Forests in Colombia are being ravaged by illegal mining, a criminal economy that has come to rival the drug trade for profits.

Organized Crime and the Environment in Latin America: A Fatal Encounter

Latin America’s forests are being cut down at an accelerating rate. Asian markets are driving a trade in wildlife products, while wildcat miners decimate Amazon jungle from Peru to Guyana…

Human Trafficking Accompanies Illegal Mining in Venezuela’s Orinoco

A new report on human trafficking in Venezuela's Bolívar state shows that forced labor camps and sex trafficking rings are rampant in the region's illegal mines.

Decades of Deforestation, Illegal Mining and Impunity in Nicaragua

Nicaragua's Indio Maíz Biological Reserve, on the southern border with Costa Rica, is under assault.

GameChangers 2020: How Black Markets Became the New Normal

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…

Brazil Cracking Down on Rising Illegal Diamond Mining

A recent operation in northern Brazil has put a spotlight on the country’s often overlooked illegal diamond trade, but authorities are only scratching the surface of the fast-growing criminal economy.

Destroy, Rinse, Repeat - Peru's Illegal Mining Struggles in Áncash

Peruvian authorities have destroyed yet another illegal mining site in one of the nation’s most popular national parks, but the ongoing failure of official efforts to target this trade strongly…

Suriname's Jaguar Trade: From Poaching to Paste

The jaguar’s head slumps over the back of an all-terrain vehicle. A lifeless paw outstretched above a large muddied tire provides a glimpse of its former mass and power.