This week, InSight Crime looks behind the curtain at Venezuelan security force operations in the country’s prisons. 


** Weekly InSight
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November 17, 2023

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This week, InSight Crime looks ([link removed]) behind the curtain at Venezuelan security force operations in the country’s prisons. Authorities claim that they have dismantled the pranato system where the prisons were run by criminal bosses, the pranes, yet the operations smack more of political theater.

We also show ([link removed]) how children continue to be vulnerable to recruitment by organized crime in rural Colombia, even as the peace process with the illegal armies continues.

In Peru, we analyze the growing extortion ([link removed]) activities of the Gallegos — a faction of the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua. In the capital Lima, locals have pushed back against the gang’s extortion.

Finally, we examine ([link removed]) the case of David Elias Campbell Licona, an alleged drug broker for the Central American street gang MS13, who was recently handed over to Honduran authorities after his capture in Nicaragua.


** Featured
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** Is the ‘Pran’ System in Venezuela’s Prisons Finished? ([link removed])
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The system that delegated power in Venezuela’s prisons to pranes, or criminal leaders, seems to be ending after a series of military takeovers of jails by President Nicolás Maduro, as he eyes re-election in 2024.

On the morning of November 10, security forces stormed the San Felipe Judicial Prison, known as La Cuarta, in Yaracuy state, releasing yet another prison from the grip of pranes and seemingly returning it to state control.

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** Colombian Armed Groups Continue Recruiting Children Amid Peace Talks ([link removed])
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On the morning of September 6, school was canceled at the José Maria Obando high school in Corinto, a small town in Cauca, Colombia. Instead of the typical bustling of 400 students chatting and filing into classrooms, there was only unsettling silence. When school employees arrived that morning, they found notebooks riddled with bullet holes scattered across empty classrooms. Chalkboards and hallway walls were pockmarked and scarred by the over 140 shots that police had fired into the building.

“You can see from the sprays of bullets — in the entire school, on the walls, in the stands — that it’s right in the line of fire,” an educational worker who asked not to be named told InSight Crime.

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** NewsAnalysis
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** Trial in Honduras Puts Spotlight on MS13 Drug Trafficking ([link removed])
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The trial of a high-level drug trafficker associated with the MS13 in Honduras may shed light on the extent of the gang’s involvement…
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** Venezuelan Extortion Gangs Spark Violent Backlash in Peru ([link removed])
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A Venezuelan gang has sunk deep criminal roots into Peru’s capital, Lima, with widespread extortion that has provoked violent protests…
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** Dozens of DEA Agents Exposed in Colombian Prosecutor’s Office Leak ([link removed])
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A cyber breach at Colombia’s prosecutor’s office has exposed the identities of more than 100 agents…


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Thinking about giving back this Thanksgiving? Consider supporting InSight Crime's mission to improve citizen security in Latin America and the Caribbean. We do this by going into the field to investigate organized crime and providing timely, insightful analysis that informs public policy on topics like migration, drug trafficking, and money laundering.

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The alleged relationship between the current vice president and former president of Suriname with drug trafficking, exposed by InSight Crime as part of the international investigation NarcoFiles: The New Criminal Order, continued to garner interest this week. InSight Crime investigator, Douwe den Held, gave an interview to ABC Suriname to discuss the investigation’s findings.

Listen to the interview here > ([link removed])

Read the #NarcoFiles article about Suriname here > ([link removed])


** This Week's Criminal Group: Tren de Aragua
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Venezuela’s most powerful gang, Tren de Aragua, may be intensifying its activities in Peru via one of its international cells, the Gallegos. Until recently, Tren de Aragua was run from the Venezuelan prison of Tocorón where the group started. But over the last two months, the Venezuelan military has carried out a series of operations to undermine the gang’s control of the country’s prisons, from which the group built its transnational empire. The gang’s loss of Tocorón prison has raised doubts about its future in Venezuela
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Read our analysis of the taking of Tocorón > ([link removed])
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Read our Tren de Aragua profile > ([link removed]) [link removed]


** Media Mentions
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November 16, 2023

The Economist ([link removed])
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"The syndicate has industrialised human trafficking on a scale not seen before in South America, according to a recent report by InSight Crime, a think-tank in Washington, DC."

Read our recent report on Tren de Aragua > ([link removed])


** Our Trending Topics
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COLOMBIA PEACE ([link removed])
VENEZUELA ([link removed])
EXTORTION ([link removed])
MS13 ([link removed])

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