President Juan Carlos Varela of Panama visited Washington, DC this week, where he presented development-focused proposals for dealing with security challenges in Central America that differed sharply from the enforcement-centric…
Panama's former President Ricardo Martinelli has been arrested in Miami and may now be extradited to face multiple criminal charges in his home country, at time when the future of…
Deceased Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was said to have turned his country into one of the most emblematic examples of a "narco-state" in Latin American history, and his dealings with…
Panama may be moving away from a softer approach to its gang problem toward a more firm-handed and potentially violent strategy resembling those of its Northern Triangle neighbors, at a…
A video recorded in a Panama prison showing inmates holding weapons casts new doubts on the state of the country's prison system.
After a multi-country hunt across Central America, authorities grounded a helicopter owned by former President Ricardo Martinelli's son and linked to a money laundering scheme of bribes from the Brazilian…
The US State Department named seven Central American countries as havens for laundering the proceeds of drug trafficking and organized crime, and described the region as a main cocaine…
Over the past several years, the United States has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on crime and violence prevention programs in Central America, with few evaluations of the impact…
Two Honduran executives allegedly used a Panamanian business and a US bank to pay $2.5 million in bribes, suggesting that banks based in Panama and the United States may…
When it comes to Central America, all eyes are usually on the Northern Triangle. But 2016 saw local organized crime in Costa Rica and Panama -- traditionally oases…
Authorities in Panama say they have seized more drugs in 2016 than in any other year since 2000, and soaring cocaine production in neighboring Colombia may be the most likely…
Panama's forest areas are seeing a growth in illegal mining, raising the question of which criminal organizations are behind these activities.
About InSight Crime
InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board
This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…
InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan
InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…
InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation
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…
Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper
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…
InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate
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…
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