Specially chosen by our editorial team for their high-quality, from-the-field reporting and engaging writing.
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** *Summer InSights 2024
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Welcome to Summer InSights, our seasonal special where we share a selection of some of our most engaging publications to keep you entertained as well as informed about Latin America’s underworld.
This week:
* We recount the harrowing testimonies of the women instrumentalized by government forces in the fight against guerrillas in one of Colombia’s most conflict-ridden regions.
* We take you to the Bolivian Amazon, where the government is fueling practices that destroy the forest in favor of agriculture and cattle ranching.
* We tell the story of one of the region’s top drug traffickers with ties to the Surinamese government, who remains at large.
* We dig into the past of musician and social media influencer who amassed hundreds of thousands of followers and recorded several reggaeton hits while incarcerated in a Venezuelan prison.
** The Informants of Tibú: How the Colombian State Unleashed a Wave of Femicides ([link removed])
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*A look at the complex ways in which gender plays a role in organized crime dynamics.
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Government forces started romantic relationships, offered work, and used blackmail to pressure vulnerable women into becoming state informants.
** Stolen Amazon: The Roots of Environmental Crime in Bolivia ([link removed])
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*A deep dive into the dark forces threatening one of the most richly diverse ecosystems in the world.
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Bolivia has 60 million hectares of Amazon rainforest, and although it is the country with the second highest amount of forest loss after Brazil, it tends to go unnoticed internationally.
** The Surinamese Cocaine Trafficker Endlessly Evading Justice ([link removed])
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*A drug trafficker with ties to Suriname’s vice president continues his business as usual despite gaining international notoriety.
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In November, InSight Crime exposed the suspected ties of drug trafficker Brian Blue to Suriname’s Vice President Ronnie Brunswijk. A new investigation, based on judicial documents and interviews with police sources in Suriname and Brazil, showcases Blue’s ability to stay off the radar of Surinamese authorities despite his rising international profile.
** How Venezuela’s Prison System Fueled a Reggaeton Star’s Career ([link removed])
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*Rsiete does not only sing about imprisonment. He lives it.
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This Venezuelan singer’s face is rarely seen on social media, yet still has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok. Since launching his career in 2022, he has released nine songs, all of which appear to have been recorded from the music studio he built inside Tocuyito prison in northern Venezuela.
Next week, on the second and final installment of our Summer InSights:
* The scandal that allegedly linked Mexico’s then president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to some of the most powerful criminal groups in the country
* The judicial crusader whose far-right legal group is relentlessly attacking Guatemala´s new president
* The drug ledgers that landed a former Honduran president in a US jail for the next 45 years of his life
* The vortex of evil growing between gangs and narcos in Tapachulas, Mexico
** Visit our YouTube channel ([link removed])
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Explore our video library for more information about criminal dynamics in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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This selection showcases how our work, which is costly and, at times, risky, contributes to understanding organized crime in the Americas. If you found it interesting and useful, please consider making a donation. Every bit helps.
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