Weekly InSight

This week, InSight Crime takes you on a journey to uncover the impacts of illegal gold mining in Chocó, Colombia. Our multimedia essay shows how criminal groups in the region use environmentally damaging machinery to extract precious metals from riverbeds. 


The final episode of the debut season of the InSight Crime podcast explores the life of Raúl Mijango, a politician and former rebel leader who led negotiations between the government of El Salvador and the country’s gangs. 


We also analyze how Brazil’s crackdown on environmental crime in the Amazon has pushed illegal mining into Venezuela; what the extradition of the alleged leader of the Pochos drug clan to the United States means for trafficking dynamics in Guatemala; and Spain’s rise as a prominent transit point for methamphetamine from Mexico to Europe.

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Riding up the Quito River, trees claw their way to the edges of the riverbanks, forming an impenetrable forest wall lining the water. 


Then, suddenly, the world opens.


The trees that walled us in have jumped back more than half a kilometer, leaving a barren wasteland. The river, which had until then gently curved back and forth, is now a nearly straight line.


Then, the first dragon appears.


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InSight Crime’s maps and graphics continue to be widely cited by policymakers, state institutions, and media outlets. This week, Ecuador’s Coast Guard gave a presentation using InSight Crime’s maps to articulate the key drug trafficking dynamics in the region. 


Ecuador has rapidly become a key link in global cocaine supply chains, something that was underscored at the beginning of this year in wake of record seizures. Cocaine production has soared, and criminal gangs exploit the country’s extensive coastline and busy ports, transforming Ecuador into a key cocaine export hub. 


InSight Crime’s graphics are based on research from our investigators, who report from the field to deliver authoritative analysis on organized crime trends in the region. 


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Born in the cells of the Tocorón prison in the mid-2010s, Tren de Aragua has swiftly risen to become Venezuela’s most powerful homegrown organized criminal group and the first Venezuelan group to project its presence abroad. The group’s domestic growth was fostered by long periods of impunity under the government of President Nicolás Maduro, while its transnational expansion came on the backs of Venezuelan migrants. 


Tren de Aragua has established cells in Colombia, Peru, and Chile, concentrating its activities in border areas with clandestine crossings or in urban areas with large Venezuelan migrant populations. In early May, 38 members of the Gallegos — an alleged Tren de Aragua cell in Chile — faced trial in Arica, a town near the Peruvian border. Drug trafficking, kidnapping, homicide, human trafficking, and sexual exploitation are among the charges against them. 

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