** Weekly InSight
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February 2, 2024
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This week, we publish a groundbreaking report ([link removed]) on how the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigated links between Mexico’s Beltrán Leyva Organization (BLO ([link removed]) ) criminal group and the 2006 presidential campaign of the country’s current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The DEA looked into allegations that a BLO associate had funneled millions of dollars into López Obrador’s push for power in an attempt to win influence.
We also publish the latest chapter ([link removed]) of our investigation ([link removed]) into the flow of precursor chemicals to Mexico for the production of methamphetamine and fentanyl. Here, we look at the role of brokers, and the key role they play in this illicit supply chain.
And we launch the Venezuelan Organized Crime Observatory ([link removed]) in Spanish, which offers a valuable resource for researchers tracking criminal dynamics in this complex country. To accompany the launch, we highlight 10 criminal dynamics ([link removed]) that will come to define Venezuela in 2024, following President Nicolás Maduro’s promise of free and fair elections.
Lastly, in Guatemala, we explore the criminal challenges ([link removed]) facing the new president, Bernardo Arévalo. Uprooting extensive corruption in government, but also rampant extortion and drug trafficking, will be key for Arévalo in making headway against organized crime.
This and more below.
** Latest Investigation
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** ‘Operation Polanco’: How the DEA Investigated AMLO’s 2006-Presidential Campaign ([link removed])
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In late 2010, US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents readied a sting in McAllen, Texas, a bustling mid-size city that sits in front of Reynosa, Mexico. An undercover agent posing as part of a New York drug ring had invited the target of the sting to meet him in a parking lot in the city to finalize a drug deal the two had been discussing for a few months.
The target was Mauricio Soto Caballero, a Mexico City-based consultant with some shady connections, and he was seeking an entry point into the world of cocaine trafficking. But for the DEA, he represented something much bigger: the chance to crack a case investigators believed penetrated not only the upper reaches of the drug trade but also the upper reaches of Mexican politics…
Read the investigation > ([link removed])
** New Chapter
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** Brokers: Lynchpins of the Precursor Chemical Flow to Mexico ([link removed])
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When Ana Gabriela Rubio Zea contacted her chemical suppliers in China on behalf of a new client, she needed to make a convincing pitch to ensure the deal would go through.
It was September 2021, and she was brokering a purchase for 25 kilograms of 1-BOC-4-Piperidone, a chemical substance that the Sinaloa Cartel ([link removed]) needed to manufacture fentanyl…
Read the investigation > ([link removed])
** Featured
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** Venezuela 2024: Elections and Criminal Consolidation
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It is an election year in Venezuela, and President Nicolás Maduro is determined to cling to power. His criminal alliances will be crucial for the survival of his regime.
The Maduro regime is built on a hybrid system of governance, an alliance between the government and organized crime networks, a symbiotic relationship where non-state armed groups (NSAGs) provide senior Chavistas with access to criminal rents and repress activity in their areas of influence. In return, the state tolerates, and in some cases actively protects, their activities. The year 2024 is likely to see the further consolidation of this system.
Read the article here > ([link removed])
Visit the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory > ([link removed])
** NewsAnalysis
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All News > ([link removed])
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** Can Guatemala’s New President Reignite Fight Against Corruption and Crime? ([link removed])
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Bernardo Arévalo was sworn in as president of Guatemala on January 15, but it was no ordinary …
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** US-Ecuador Security Cooperation: A New Plan Colombia? ([link removed])
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As Ecuador grapples with a security crisis, senior US military officials visited the country and signed a multimillion-dollar aid portfolio …
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** How Rosario Became Argentina’s Drug Violence Capital ([link removed])
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The war for control of the drug trade in Rosario, Argentina ([link removed]) , has transformed the city into a hub for violence and is rooted in pacts …
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** New Elections, Old Strategies: Repression in Venezuela ([link removed])
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A wave of repression by President Nicolás Maduro’s administration in Venezuela ([link removed]) has paralyzed opposition candidates in the lead-up to the …
** Impact
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What We Do > ([link removed])
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** AMLO Responds to InSight Crime Investigation
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Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador responded to reports by InSight Crime, ProPublica, and Deutsche Welle on the DEA investigation into his 2006 campaign.
“There is no proof. They are vile slanderers,” AMLO said in his daily morning press conference. “I'm not going to carry out any formal complaint, but I denounce it. Not the journalist or journalists. I denounce the United States government for allowing these immoral practices that are contrary to the political ethics that should prevail in all governments.”
Read the investigation > ([link removed])
** This Week's Criminal Profile: Beltrán Leyva Organization
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Originally allied with the Sinaloa Cartel ([link removed]) , the Beltrán Leyva brothers split from the group in 2008, creating the Beltrán Leyva Organization (BLO ([link removed]) ) and sparking a violent war.
The BLO allied with the Zetas ([link removed]) to face El Chapo ([link removed]) ’s group, but following a series of arrests and killings by Mexican security forces, the BLO itself began to break up. Some of its splinter cells remain operational.
An InSight Crime report ([link removed]) released this week brought to light a shelved DEA investigation into millions of dollars that the group allegedly contributed to AMLO’s failed 2006 presidential campaign. In return, witnesses said, the group would have had a say in AMLO’s choice of Attorney General.
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Read our BLO profile > ([link removed])
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Read our coverage of the group > ([link removed])
** Media Mentions
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About Us > ([link removed])
January 31, 2024
Reuters ([link removed])
"The allegations are laid out in extensive reports published earlier in the day by investigative news outlets ProPublica, InSight Crime and Deutsche Welle."
Read the cited article here > ([link removed])
** Our Trending Topics
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BELTRÁN LEYVA ORG ([link removed])
ECUADOR ([link removed])
MICROTRAFFICKING ([link removed])
GUATEMALA ([link removed])
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