All About Venezuela Groups

NEWS

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 for 2023

ELN / 16 FEB 2023

InSight Crime has developed its own methodology to rank Venezuela's organized crime groups. Here, we present the strongest.

VENEZUELA / FEBRUARY 16, 2023

The Central General Staff (Estado Mayor Central - EMC) is the governing body of a group of factions who refused to demobilize during the FARC peace process in 2017.

EX-FARC MAFIA / FEBRUARY 15, 2023

The Acacio Medina Front is a dissident group that emerged from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), also known as the ex-FARC mafia.

VENEZUELA / 14 FEB 2023

Las Claritas Sindicato is one of the strongest and longest-lasting criminal groups dedicated to illegal mining in Venezuela’s southern state of Bolívar.

EXTORTION / JULY 11, 2023

The Carlos Capa gang is one of the oldest surviving criminal gangs in Valles del Tuy, south of Caracas in Venezuela.

ILLEGAL MINING / JANUARY 26, 2023

The R Organization is one of Venezuela's fastest growing mining gangs, which are often referred to as sindicatos.

VENEZUELA / JANUARY 26, 2021

Tren de Guayana is one of the most powerful mining gangs to currently operate in the southern Venezuela state of Bolívar.

VENEZUELA GROUPS / SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

The Border Security Colectivo (Colectivo de Seguridad Fronteriza – CSF) is a state-supported irregular militia group based in the Colombian border state of Táchira.

CARTEL OF THE SUNS / MAY 14, 2022

The “Cartel of the Suns” (Cartel de los Soles) is the term used to describe the shadowy groups inside Venezuela’s military that are involved in a wide range of criminal…

VENEZUELA GROUPS / 8 JAN 2021

For decades, the Meleán crime family was one of the most powerful criminal groups in Venezuela. Established by Antonio Jesús Meleán Vergel, alias “Antonito,” the clan controlled large swathes of…

TREN DE ARAGUA / SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

The Tren de Aragua is Venezuela’s most powerful local "megabanda," or large criminal gangs with more than 100 members. This group is largely based out of the Tocorón prison in…

COLOMBIA GROUPS / JUNE 1, 2023

Las disidencias de las FARC o ex-Farc Mafia son grupos de excombatientes de la antigua guerrilla que se opusieron o desencantaron del proceso de paz con el gobierno colombiano desde…

MEGABANDAS / JUNE 23, 2022

Tren del Llano (Train of the Plain) is one of the first so-called "megabandas" or criminal gangs to develop in Venezuela.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

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…

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…