This week, InSight Crime published “Rise of the Criminal Hybrid State in Venezuela,” an investigation that is the culmination of five years of research and analysis focused on uncovering and understanding how organized crime intersects with the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
 

We also assess the death of “Iván Márquez,” a Colombian former guerrilla commander, and ask whether, as the number of dissident FARC commanders dwindle, President Gustavo Petro’s ambition plan to bring peace to Colombia is any clearer. In Mexico, we spoke to two academics who have charted the relation between increasing gender-based violence and the so-called war on drugs and militarization in the country. In our most recent Data InSights story, we reveal how the Paraguayan judiciary abuses pre-trial detention and, in doing so, foments organized crime in the country.

Earlier this year, InSight Crime published an in-depth investigation into the role of precursor chemicals in sustaining Mexico’s synthetic drug trade, including the production and trafficking of fentanyl and methamphetamine. In it, we explained the obscure global supply chain that sustains the production of synthetic drugs, the role of Mexico’s so-called cartels in supplying US demand, and how regulations to limit this illegal trade are failing.

On July 7, this investigation -- and previous coverage of the synthetic drugs trade -- was used in a special international forum in Mexico’s Senate.

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