Explore last year's most impactful criminal trends and what may lay ahead for security in the Americas in 2024
** Annual Series #GameChangers
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Dear Reader,
In our annual Criminal GameChangers series our investigators broke down the biggest stories from across the region in 2023, highlighting how criminal groups turned political chaos to their advantage throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
Now, as we wrap up the first month of 2024, these stories are even more relevant to understanding the criminal landscape that threatens citizen security across the region. In Ecuador, President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency, and the gangs responded with coordinated attacks and violence as seen on a live TV news broadcast ([link removed]) .
In Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in as president on January 15, and he used his first speech to hammer home his priority of tackling widespread corruption ([link removed]) . Mexico and the United States are still at odds on how to build a common front against the fentanyl crisis, and in less than 30 days, we saw major cocaine seizures ([link removed]) that serve as examples of the huge volume of drugs trafficked daily throughout the region ([link removed]) .
Explore our 2023 Criminal GameChangers series ([link removed]) to gain in-depth understanding of the dynamics and actors that are shaping the criminal landscape for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2024.
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** #SecurityPolicy
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** Through the Looking Glass ([link removed])
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2023 a year of contradictions in Latin America, where political announcements seemed to fly in the face of criminal developments. The president of Mexico denied the country produced fentanyl despite ever-increasing seizures of the drug; ceasefires were announced with great fanfare in Colombia as armed groups continued fighting; and the Ecuador’s new president pledged to increase community policing while the homicide rate soared. What used to be up now is down.
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** #EnvironmentalCrime
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** A Win Against Deforestation in the Amazon, For Now ([link removed])
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In Brazil and Colombia, the rate of deforestation plummeted in 2023, courtesy of new environmentally friendly governments. But these small victories cannot distract from a continuing truth. The Amazon’s criminal networks are deeply entrenched. Illegal logging, wildcat mining, and drug trafficking continue to rip apart the rainforest at a rapid rate.
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** #Fentanyl
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** US-Mexico Tensions Undermine the Fight Against Fentanyl ([link removed])
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The differences in how the United States and Mexico approach the issue of fentanyl trafficking came into stark relief over the past year. As the United States has racked up tens of thousands of overdose deaths, efforts to come up with a common response struggled in the face of heated domestic politics and diplomatic hurdles.
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** #ColombiaPeace
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** Unintended Consequences for Colombia’s ‘Total Peace’
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2023 started off promisingly. Ceasefires were reached between Colombian authorities and three major criminal structures, the ELN, AGC, and ex-FARC mafia. But this process soon became snarled up as armed groups continued to fight for control of criminal economies, without having to worry about military interference. Can Total Peace survive such setbacks?
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** #ElitesAndCrime
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** Guatemala Election Upset Sparks Establishment Meltdown ([link removed])
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The election victory of Bernardo Arévalo in June sparked a panic among corrupt networks within the Guatemalan establishment. Since then, prosecutors have accused Arévalo of using protests to boost his campaign. His allies have been arrested, he risks arrest himself, and the entire election may be scrapped. This could spell the end for democracy in Guatemala.
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** #CriminalProfiles
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** Top 5 Criminal Newsmakers of 2023 ([link removed])
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Which criminal groups did InSight Crime write about most in 2023?
The Sinaloa Cartel continued to dominate our coverage, evidence of its continued dominance of drug trafficking and migrant smuggling in Mexico. In second place, the ELN sat down for difficult talks with the Colombian government, while continuing to dominate the Venezuelan side of the border. The other three came from Venezuela, Ecuador, and El Salvador.
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** #ElitesAndCrime #Gangs
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** Ecuador Loses Its Grip on Crime ([link removed])
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Ecuador has seen an alarming descent into violence over the last four years. 2023 saw the worst of it, with the country entering the top three most violent countries in Latin America. Newly elected President Daniel Noboa has promised swift action against gangs, but with a short political mandate and underfunded corrupt security forces, his success is far from assured.
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** #tag
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** The Cocaine Flash-to-Bang in 2024 ([link removed])
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Rising conflict and oversupply led to plummeting coca prices in Colombia, yet coca cultivation continued to expand to new territories, such as Honduras and Venezuela. Meanwhile, cocaine prices have remained high in Europe and Asia, leading InSight Crime to anticipate that 2024 will be the year when cocaine supply chains catch up with rising coca production.
Read the full series ([link removed])
Download the full series (PDF) ([link removed])
Our GameChangers series is an authoritative look at the evolution of organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean. But that is just part of what we do. In 2023, InSight Crime published more in-depth investigations than in any other previous year. From Venezuela’s cocaine revolution to the collapse of illegal marijuana, and from the pillaging of the Amazon to the plundering of the oceans, read InSight Crime’s investigative work here ([link removed]) .
Support our work, donate today ([link removed])
Regards,
The InSight Crime Team
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InSight Crime is sponsored by:
American University ([link removed])
Open Society Foundations ([link removed])
The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency ([link removed])
Copyright (C) 2024 InSight Crime. All rights reserved.
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