** Weekly InSight
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September 22, 2023

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This week, InSight Crime exposes corruption within the administration of Omar Prieto ([link removed]) , the controversial former governor in the Venezuelan state of Zulia. Prieto rose from a petty gangster to the highest political post in the state, pushing the limits of permissiveness during President Nicolás Maduro’s crisis years, when much of the state itself became a criminal enterprise.

Elsewhere in Venezuela, we examine security forces’ invasion ([link removed]) of the notorious Tocorón Prison, which is a homebase for Tren de Aragua, the country’s most powerful criminal gang.

Make sure to check in with us next week for a deep dive into what this means for the country’s criminal landscape, the prison gang system, and for Venezuela’s largest transnational crime group.

We also report from the field on Mexico’s rapidly shifting fentanyl landscape ([link removed]) , ignited by the arrest of a high-ranking Chapitos leader in January. We examine what his recent extradition to the United States means for US-Mexico cooperation and analyze the ripple effect on groups dedicated to fentanyl production throughout the country.

Finally, we will soon launch a new website that will provide an improved user experience, in addition to highlighting our hybrid journalistic-academic nature and improving the presentation of our news analysis, investigations, and fieldwork.


** Latest Investigation
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** The Gangster Governor of Zulia: The Rise and Fall of Venezuela’s Omar Prieto ([link removed])
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The blood streamed down Eduardo Labrador’s face and splattered across his shirt. “Film me! Film me!” he shouted at the journalist who had come to check on him. As he addressed the camera, he was defiant, angry even. Today, he said, they had come out to defend democracy in Venezuela. And this was the result.

Read the full investigation here > ([link removed])


** Featured
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** An Extradition (and a Fentanyl Prohibition) as Mexico Tries a Counterdrug Reset ([link removed])
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Mexico’s fast-tracked extradition of a top fentanyl trafficker to the United States and a months-long, underworld-enforced prohibition of fentanyl production suggest Mexico’s government and some of its most-targeted criminal actors may be trying to reset US-Mexico counternarcotics relations.

Read the article here > ([link removed])


** NewsAnalysis
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All News > ([link removed])
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** Venezuelan Military ‘Invades’ Notorious Prison ([link removed])
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Early in the morning of September 20, 11,000 members of the Venezuelan security forces deployed around the notorious prison of Tocorón in Aragua state.…
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** Grenades Becoming Trademark of Venezuelan Extortion Gangs in Peru ([link removed])
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A series of grenade attacks and threats linked to Venezuelan gangs and extortion in Peru reveal how …
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** Venezuela Could Be Supplying Colombia’s Cocaine Labs With Scarce Precursor ([link removed])
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In Venezuela, recent seizures of urea, a chemical precursor used in the production of cocaine, show…


** Impact
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What We Do > ([link removed])
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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 event accompanies InSight Crime’s latest investigation, “Escobar’s Former Hitman Takes the Road to Total Peace in Medellín, Colombia ([link removed]) .”

InSight Crime senior investigator, Victoria Dittmar, contributed to a forum hosted by the Wilson Center, exploring how the US and Mexico can cooperate to confront ([link removed]) the fentanyl and opioid crisis.

Co-director Jeremy McDermott joined a virtual panel of experts to discuss the vulnerabilities of the Caribbean as a transshipment hub ([link removed]) for cocaine en route to Europe. The event was held at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS).


** This Week's Criminal Profile: The Chapitos ([link removed])
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The now-jailed former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquín Guzmán Loera, alias “El Chapo,” reportedly had many children, but only a select few of them, known collectively as the Chapitos, are at the center of an ongoing internal feud for control of the group’s operations against the last remaining member of the so-called “old guard,” Ismael Zambada García, alias “El Mayo.”
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Read our Chapitos profile > ([link removed])
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Read our recent coverage of The Chapitos > ([link removed])


** Media Mentions
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About Us > ([link removed])

September 19, 2023

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"‘The idea behind ‘total peace’ is right on the money. You know, let’s look at the social issues behind these conflicts,” said Jeremy McDermott, co-founder of InSight Crime, a Colombia-based think tank. “The great challenge Petro faces is: How do you talk peace without strengthening these groups?’"

Read our most recent analysis of Total Peace here > ([link removed])


** Our Trending Topics
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VENEZUELA ([link removed])
SYNTHETIC DRUGS ([link removed])
TREN DE ARAGUA ([link removed])
ELITES AND CRIME ([link removed])

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