Weekly InSight

This week, InSight Crime published the newest installment of its two-year investigation into the supply chain of precursor chemicals used for the production of synthetic drugs in Mexico, exploring the potential of public-private partnerships in regulating the flow of substances.    

We also analyzed the growing prominence of commercial flights in contraband trafficking from Latin America, the wave of political violence that continues to underscore Mexico’s electoral cycle, the implications of the murder of a Sinaloa Cartel armed wing leader, and the varied impacts of organized crime on Colombia’s crop substitution program. 

This and more below.

Latest Investigation

In Battle to Slow Precursor Chemicals in Mexico, Public-Private Partnerships Are a Path Not Taken

It was days before Super Bowl LVI in February 2022, the biggest guacamole day of the year in the United States, when a threatening call came into the government-issued cell phone of a US agricultural safety inspector working in Michoacán, Mexico.

Michoacán is the heart of the $4 billion avocado industry. To facilitate cross-border trade, the US Department of Agriculture sends inspectors like this one that make sure the avocados are not carrying diseases or insects that may hurt US production.  

Read the investigation >

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Mexico’s Extreme Election Violence Explained

Political candidates in criminally strategic states like Chiapas, Guerrero, and Michoacán saw an outburst of violence this election cycle in Mexico, underscoring how organized crime groups and other power brokers try to influence voting to maintain control despite political reconfigurations.

By the time voters elected Claudia Sheinbaum as Mexico’s first female president, election observers recorded 129 political violence events targeting officials during local, state, and federal elections, for which more than 20,000 posts were up for grabs when campaigning started in early September 2023, according to data collected by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED).

Read the article here > 

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In an interview with Atlas, the YouTube channel of German public broadcaster ARD, InSight Crime’s Douwe den Held outlined the strategic importance of Suriname as a launching point for drug trafficking from Latin America to Europe. Den Held highlighted how the country’s geography, along with political corruption, has made Suriname an attractive transit location for organized criminal groups looking to move drugs to Europe. 

Watch the video >

See more coverage from Suriname >

This Week's Criminal Profile: The Choneros

The Choneros are at the heart of the brutal gang war that has triggered unprecedented levels of violence and insecurity in Ecuador. On May 30, Ecuadorian authorities arrested 23 alleged members of the group, including supposed mid-level lieutenant Adrián Joel Solórzano Asen, alias “Mongolo.” The arrests reflect the continuation of the government’s war on organized crime, but are unlikely to significantly alter the country’s organized criminal landscape. 

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