Weekly InSight

This week, we published a special illustrated investigation revealing human rights violations committed by Venezuelan security forces during the anti-gang Operation Trueno. The investigation combines drawings, text and audio to tell the stories of innocent people swept up in the operation purportedly targeting the Tren del Llano gang. 


We also explain how dollarization has fueled a rise in predatory lending in Venezuela; we uncover the mafias behind Lain America’s sand trafficking industry; we explore the innovative trend of Mexican cartels making their own precursor chemicals for methamphetamine production; and we analyze the US designation of Tren de Aragua as a transnational criminal organization. 


This and more below.

Latest Investigation

On the night of April 20, 2022, hundreds of heavily armed police and military officials descended on the municipality of Altagracia de Orituco in the central Venezuelan state of Guarico with orders to hunt down the Tren del Llano gang and its collaborators in what the government labeled Operación Trueno – Operation Thunder. But instead of directly confronting the gang, they rampaged through the region, terrorizing and traumatizing the population.


In the months that followed, lawyers from the human rights organization Defiende Venezuela traveled the region documenting evidence of the abuses committed by the security forces and taking witness testimonies from their victims. The following stories are based on those testimonies.


Read the investigation >

We are thrilled to announce InSight Crime will be honored with a special citation by the Maria Moors Cabot Prize jury for outstanding reporting on the Americas.


The prestigious recognition given by the Columbia Journalism School honors journalists and news organizations for career excellence and coverage of the Western Hemisphere that furthers inter-American understanding. We are honored to be among its many illustrious recipients.


Read the full announcement here >

This Week's Criminal Profile: National Liberation Army (ELN)

Peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (Ejército Nacional de Liberación - ELN) remain stalled, but the ELN breakaway group the Comuneros del Sur agreed this week with government negotiators on five points to de-escalate violence in the southwestern department of Nariño. 


The fracturing of the negotiation process has revealed internal divisions within the ELN, Colombia’s last true guerrilla group, and suggests the government is shifting focus away from its promise of Total Peace and towards a form of Partial Peace.

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