Amid a shortage of cigarettes in Argentina after factory closings due to the coronavirus pandemic, the black market cigarette trade has surged -- an illegal economy with relatively low risk…
As the coronavirus crisis exposes the strains on Latin America’s notoriously overcrowded prison system, members of the region’s criminal elite are seeking temporary conditional releases and transfers to house arrest.
Paraguay issued its first-ever medical cannabis licenses this February, marking a major shift for the marijuana-producing country while raising questions about its approach to fighting illegal cultivation.
Thanks to a combination of great organizational capacity, control of prisons, high levels of loyalty among its members and dominance of key criminal economies, the PCC has become one of…
In a year marked by political and criminal turmoil, Latin American capitals did not escape the effects of the violence, organized crime and state repression experienced throughout the region.
Two recent events show how one of Brazil's regional gangs, the PGC, is making waves inside Paraguay, likely seeking to emulate the drug trafficking success that its larger rivals have…
Armed men shot and killed a Brazilian journalist who covered police and drug trafficking along the Brazil-Paraguay border, underscoring the precarious situation for reporters in a lawless region dominated by…
Over the last few years, the PCC’s continued expansion into Paraguay has seen Brazil's most powerful criminal group leave behind its roots as a prison gang to become a transnational…
Following the dramatic prison break on January 19 by members of the PCC, Paraguay’s president has once again sent military troops to the country’s penitentiaries, despite the initial military deployment…
A growing market for stolen or smuggled pesticides has left Brazil in a bind, as it fights increasingly large robberies at home while also cracking down on smuggled agricultural products…
In an unprecedented move, authorities in Brazil have requested the extradition of former Paraguay President Horacio Cartes to face money laundering charges related to the sweeping Odebrecht scandal, raising questions…
The recent arrest of a purported Brazilian criminal gang boss, as well as a number of collaborators, including police, along the Brazil-Paraguay border has revealed a complicated problem: nobody knows…