This week, InSight Crime analyzed the security proposals of Uruguay's main presidential candidates. Yamandú Orsi of the leftist Frente Amplio and Álvaro Delgado, of the ruling National Party, both advanced to the second round of voting, which will take place on November 24. The candidates are proposing preventative as well as repressive measures to deal with drug trafficking and common crime, two issues that are of growing concern to voters in the country.

Monitoring other elections this month, we report on how criminal groups in Brazil used money, corruption, and violence to influence the results of the second round of municipal elections; we cover the proliferation of fake online pharmacies in the Dominican Republic that are selling sometimes-deadly fentanyl-tainted drugs in the United States; and we report on allegations that the Treviño Morales brothers, leaders of the Zetas in Mexico, are continuing to lead factions of the group from prison, following a new superseding indictment from U.S. prosecutors. We also covered a record cocaine seizure in Spain.

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Crime, Drugs, and Violence Top Concerns in Uruguay’s Election

As Uruguayans prepare to vote in the first round of presidential elections on October 27, security has emerged as a pivotal issue, with candidates shifting toward the center and debating whether prevention or suppression offers the best solution to escalating crime.

Despite Uruguay’s strong economy, low inflation, and a steady decline in certain crime rates, security remains a top concern, driven by rising violence and the nation’s increasing role in the international cocaine trade.

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Italy’s Camorra Moves Into Colombia’s Cocaine Capital

Arrest of Leaders of Ecuador’s Tiguerones Could Further Fracture Gang

Ecuador Is Coca Producer Country, Says President Noboa

InSight Crime researcher Sara Garcia was a guest on the Brookings Institute podcast “The Killing Drugs” to discuss the current dynamics surrounding fentanyl in some South American countries. The diversion and trafficking of this synthetic drug is of growing concern in the region, which has watched the United States struggle with an opioid epidemic fed by fentanyl overdoses.

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This Week's Criminal Profile: Los Tiguerones

Within just a few years, the Tiguerones have risen from obscurity to a position as one of Ecuador’s most dangerous and influential criminal organizations and an important link in the international cocaine trafficking supply chain.

Founded by an ex-prison guard, the group was born in Guayaquil as a faction of the Choneros prison mafia. But it is rooted in the northwestern city of Esmeraldas and Esmeraldas diaspora communities in Guayaquil. After breaking away from the Choneros, the Tiguerones have forged a fearsome reputation as one of the country’s most violent criminal groups while building up an extensive portfolio of criminal economies, including retail drug trafficking, extortion, and robbery, as well as providing services for transnational drug trafficking organizations.

Trending Topic: Colombia Steps Up Fight Against Wildlife Trafficking

Colombian authorities recovered more than 507 animals and confiscated 570 skins of endangered species during three raids in different regions of the country this week. This type of trafficking is highly profitable for criminal groups and represents a serious threat to biodiversity and environmental balance in one of the most biodiverse countries in the world.

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