Mexico's Michoacan vigilantes have forced out their main spokesman after questioning his psychological state, increasing confusion over who controls the self-defense militias during an already dicey legalization process.
Reports that a new cartel made up of disparate criminal elements and vigilantes is intent on dominating Michoacan appear to validate fears of Mexico's self-defense forces criminalizing, as well as…
Volunteer community policing has been a tradition in indigenous communities across Southern Mexico for centuries. Though controversial, advocates argue the practice is supported by international law and has been codified…
The desperation in Michoacan, as in many parts of Mexico, with regards to organized crime has led to a myopic view of this issue. In the short term, it produced,…
A recent news report discusses the increasing prominence of lynchings, illegal detentions by mobs and other instances of popular justice in some parts of Central America, a phenomenon spurred by…
Faced with the government's failure to rein in the criminals, communities across crime-besieged Mexico have been trying for years to organize effective civic resistance. Michoacan's vigilantes express the most extreme…
Authorities in Mexico have arrested the mayor of Michoacan's principal port city for alleged Knights Templar ties, in an illustration of how embedded this criminal group is in the southwest…
Vigilantes in Mexico have entered a cave complex with guns blazing as they hunt down the Knights Templar's remaining leader in the group's "final stronghold." But while the endgame may be…
The arrest of the top two members of an upstart Mexican gang in the embattled state of Guerrero has added a jolt of uncertainty to one of the nation's most…
The assault against the Knights Templar led by vigilante groups and security forces is creating a criminal power vacuum in Mexico's Michoacan state, which authorities believe some of the country's…
A vigilante leader in Mexico's Michoacan state has promised the groups will disarm by May 10, but details about what their agreement with the government entails are hazy, and it…
Officials in Mexico are seeking to disarm self-defense groups they legally recognized just months ago, amid signs they are slipping out of control. The heavily armed militias are unlikely to…
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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