The abandonment of environmental fines for illegal deforestation in Brazil is leading to a political scandal, with a cabinet minister potentially being removed from office and state governments breaking with…
A new report has found that 86 environmental activists have been killed in Mexico since 2012, with a third of the killings linked to energy projects -- an alarming fact…
Illegal timber and drug trafficking are closely linked in northeastern Honduras, a major cocaine corridor in this region. There, criminal groups have savvily combined these two businesses to maximize their…
Officials within the agency entrusted with protecting Bolivia's forests falsified data and provided documents legitimizing the illegal harvesting of timber, a scheme that occurs throughout South America.
A new report offering a detailed statistical breakdown of Peru’s timber trade exposes the staggering levels of illegality that have contaminated the country’s wood supply chain and the constant evolution…
Authorities in Peru say they have successfully driven illegal gold mining out of the Amazon, but will other illegal economies take its place?…
A park ranger’s shooting in Costa Rica and the slaying of another in a Colombian reserve show the dangers rangers face in protected areas -- as diverse in flora and…
The mafia that makes trafficking of illegally-sourced wood possible in Peru is not made up of timber trade outlaws. It is a network of corrupt officials.
Illegal timber in Peru is sourced and sold across the country. But most of the money laundering happens in between these destinations. Our team traveled to Pucallpa, the hub of…
Imaging compiled by the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP) shows how in 2018 medium scale deforestation affected huge swaths of rainforest in Peru’s central and southern jungle…
A poorly defined and lawless border region between Belize and Guatemala is proving to be fertile ground for eco traffickers to further their criminal interests, underscoring how a lack of…
The six bodies, minus their heads, were dumped just before dawn on a morning in late October. They were left in front of a gas station on the outskirts of Creel,…
About InSight Crime
Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted
This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…
Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention
Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…
InSight Crime on El País Podcast
This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.
InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press
This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…
Escaping Barrio 18
Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…
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