In Mexico, authorities are struggling to tackle illicit money flows linked to the synthetic drug boom.
** Weekly InSight
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May 10, 2024
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This week, InSight Crime published ([link removed]) an investigation from Mexico, where authorities are struggling to tackle illicit money flows linked to the synthetic drug boom. $44 billion is thought to be laundered through Mexico’s economy annually, yet prosecutions are exceedingly rare.
In Colombia, official negotiations between the government and the leaders of some of the country’s largest armed groups fractured ([link removed]) further; gangs, corruption and human smuggling present ([link removed]) Panama’s newly elected president with immediate challenges; drug trafficking spikes ([link removed]) in Southern Spain; US prosecutors charge ([link removed]) a purported member of the Cartier family with using cryptocurrency to launder drug profits; and what lessons can be learned ([link removed]) from Canada’s ongoing fentanyl epidemic.
** Latest Investigation
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** How Mexico Loses the Precursor Chemical Money Trail ([link removed])
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In 2021, Mexican authorities captured an Asian-Mexican businessman at a Mexican port and seized 23 tons of drugs. The shipping manifest said the businessman was importing “calcium chloride,” but lab results later showed that part of the cargo was fentanyl, the deadly synthetic opioid responsible for tens of thousands of overdoses per year in North America.
Authorities said they also found cocaine, marijuana, and methamphetamine, as well as other types of unspecified items. And although they did not disclose the amount of each drug they seized, investigators from Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit (Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera — UIF) said the network included the businessman, his wife, his daughter, and a series of associates spread across a wide geographic swath.
Read the investigation > ([link removed])
** Featured ([link removed])
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** From Total to Partial Peace: Colombia’s Talks With Crime Groups Fragment ([link removed])
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Colombian President Gustavo Petro is being forced to confront the possibility that his flagship security policy, Total Peace (Paz Total), may only have partial peace in its sights.
National-level peace talks have broken down between the government and two of the armed groups in the most advanced stages of negotiations, the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional – ELN ([link removed]) ) and the Central General Staff (Estado Mayor Central – EMC ([link removed]) ), a dissident group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Petro’s negotiators are now engaging with individual blocs or fronts around the country, rather than solely dealing with the national leadership of the two groups.
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** News Analysis
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** 3 Reasons Why Canada is a Cautionary Tale for the International Fentanyl Market ([link removed])
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While the United States has often been the cautionary tale of a fentanyl crisis, Canada’s experience could offer a better model … ([link removed])
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** Gangs, Corruption to Test Panama’s New President ([link removed])
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Panama’s new President-elect José Raúl Mulino has won election by promising to return Panama to its economic boom years. But tackling drug trafficking and white-collar … ([link removed])
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** Southern Spain Sees Wave of Drug Trafficking ([link removed])
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Several operations against drug trafficking networks in Andalusia, Spain, and an increase in cocaine seizures there have confirmed the growing role of southern Spain as a gateway for Latin American cocaine to Europe … ([link removed])
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** US Crypto Money Laundering Indictment Reflects Increased Enforcement Efforts ([link removed])
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US prosecutors have charged a purported member of the Cartier luxury goods family with laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in … ([link removed])
** Impact
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This week, InSight Crime and Universidad Iberoamericana hosted a conference on synthetic drugs and precursor chemicals in Mexico City. The event brought together investigators, experts, and policymakers to explore the precursor chemical supply chain, fentanyl’s impact on organized crime and the effects of synthetic drugs on society and the environment in Mexico and beyond.
InSight Crime continues to offer authoritative coverage of all angles of the continued boom in synthetic drugs. The latest chapter of our 11-part investigation into synthetic drugs in Mexico outlined the methods used by criminal groups to finance precursor chemicals and launder money while successfully evading the scrutiny of Mexico’s financial authorities.
Watch the event > ([link removed])
Read our synthetic drugs report > ([link removed])
** This Week's Criminal Profile: The Monos ([link removed])
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The Monos are an organized criminal group that has operated for over 20 years in the Argentine city of Rosario. Sophisticated relationships with security forces and local elites, along with their use of violence, have led to the Monos becoming the most powerful criminal outfit in Argentina. Rosario is now the most violent city in Argentina and is a strategic transit point for shipments of marijuana and cocaine coming from neighboring Bolivia and Paraguay.
This week, the prosecution of the Monos’ already imprisoned leader, Ariel Máximo Cantero ([link removed]) , alias “Guille,” underscored how incarceration alone is rarely successful in impeding the activities of criminal groups. On May 7, 2024, Guille was prosecuted for drug trafficking involving a minor (his now-18-year old daughter) and for ordering attacks against heads of the federal penitentiary. Guille has frequently evaded security measures to call the shots from behind bars, often using phone calls with his daughter to organize attacks and influence the Monos’ operations.
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Read our profile of the Monos > ([link removed])
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Read our Argentina coverage > ([link removed])
** Media Mentions
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May 9, 2024
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“Steven Dudley, an expert on Latin American gangs and co-director of the research group InSight Crime, says there's a difference between the arrival of migrants with ties to [Tren de Aragua] and the arrival of the gang itself.”
Read our Tren de Aragua coverage > ([link removed])
** Our Trending Topics
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