From ornamental fish trafficking to land grabbing, corruption greases the wheels of every environmental crime motor, feeding deforestation and biodiversity loss in Colombia’s Amazon region.
Deforestation is the most visible face of environmental crime in Colombia’s Amazon.
Emerging from almost six decades of civil conflict, the world’s number one cocaine producer has paid scant attention to environmental crime.
Faced with endemic timber theft and uneven government enforcement, logging companies in Chile have agreed to new guidelines meant to cut down on the sale of illegal wood.
Recently published data has shown that deforestation in Colombia soared last year, as a number of illegal activities drove forest loss.
Timber mafias operating along Ecuador’s borders with Peru and Colombia have been profiting from thriving demand for balsa wood.
A spate of arrests targeting truck drivers carrying stolen wood have highlighted how the province of Arauco is at the heart of increases in timber trafficking across Chile.
The environment minister under investigation. The head of the environmental protection agency suspended. The Brazilian government is facing its strongest accusations to date…
More than half of Colombia is covered in forests, but rampant illegal logging is decimating the country’s woodlands.
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…
Nicaragua's Indio Maíz Biological Reserve, on the southern border with Costa Rica, is under assault.
Nearly eight months after the wiretaps were installed, the conversations on the phones suddenly changed. The talk of logging, laundering and shipping illegal wood stopped. Instead the voices talked of…
About InSight Crime
Who Are Memo Fantasma and Sergio Roberto de Carvalho?
Inside the criminal career of Memo Fantasma In March 2020, InSight Crime revealed the identity and whereabouts of Memo Fantasma, a paramilitary commander and drug trafficker living in…
Environmental and Academic Praise
InSight Crime’s six-part series on the plunder of the Peruvian Amazon continues to inform the debate on environmental security in the region. Our Environmental Crimes Project Manager, María Fernanda Ramírez,…
Series on Plunder of Peru’s Amazon Makes Headlines
Since launching on June 2, InSight Crime’s six-part series on environmental crime in Peru’s Amazon has been well-received. Detailing the shocking impunity enjoyed by those plundering the rainforest, the investigation…
Duarte’s Death Makes Waves
The announcement of the death of Gentil Duarte, one of the top dissident commanders of the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), continues to reverberate in Venezuela and Colombia.
Cattle Trafficking Acclaim, Investigation into Peru’s Amazon
On May 18, InSight Crime launched its most recent investigation into cattle trafficking between Central America and Mexico. It showed precisely how beef, illicitly produced in Honduras, Guatemala…
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