All About Panama

PANAMA / 27 AUG 2013

Panama's Attorney General has called for more funds to combat the nation's 201 gangs, highlighting how the issue of street gangs is not limited to the violence-ridden Northern Triangle countries…

COSTA RICA / 22 AUG 2013

Why did the seizure of a briefcase containing money on a secluded Costa Rican border cause so much concern to a Nicaraguan and a Salvadoran? The web of drug trafficking…

MONEY LAUNDERING / 16 AUG 2013

Panama is the financial and commercial center of Central America, but also, historically, it is where drug traffickers launder money. Real estate, businesses and even greeting cards are used by…

FARC / 25 JUL 2013

Coca crops and processing laboratories have been discovered in Panama for the second time this year, suggesting that cultivation is now creeping across three of Colombia's borders and into neighboring countries.

ARMS TRAFFICKING / 16 JUL 2013

Panamanian authorities have discovered weapons and "sophisticated missile equipment" on a ship traveling from Cuba to North Korea along the Panama Canal, raising the question of who tipped off…

FARC / 2 JUL 2013

Panama's President Ricardo Martinelli has succeeded in completely banishing Colombian guerrilla group the FARC from his country, he claimed, although evidence points to the contrary.

FARC / 25 JUN 2013

The discovery of Central America's first ever coca plantation in the Panama-Colombia border region could indicate the expansion of FARC activities in an area already used by the guerrilla group…

COLOMBIA / 28 MAR 2013

Police in Costa Rica have dismantled a network that trafficked cocaine from Colombia for sale within the country, highlighting how Costa Rica's growth as a drug transit country may increase…

COLOMBIA / 27 MAR 2013

Authorities captured an alleged link between Colombia trafficking organization the Rastrojos and Mexico drug cartels in Panama. The suspect had been granted political asylum in Panama, underscoring the diverse networks…

COLOMBIA / 11 FEB 2013

An alleged head of Colombia's criminal syndicate the Oficina de Envigado has been captured in Panama, a new blow to the increasingly splintered and weakened group, which could further escalate…

PANAMA / 3 DEC 2012

A court's ruling that the United States cannot prosecute traffickers caught in other countries' territorial waters could hinder its maritime anti-narcotics operations in Latin America, at a time when drug trafficking by…

COLOMBIA / 28 NOV 2012

Colombia's neo-paramilitary Urabeños are strengthening their presence across the border in Panama, expanding their influence over a key drug shipment route with easy access…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Rights Watch Draws on InSight Crime's Haiti Coverage

18 AUG 2023

Non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch relied on InSight Crime's coverage this week, citing six articles and one of our criminal profiles in its latest report on the humanitarian…