** Weekly InSight
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February 7, 2025
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This week, InSight Crime analyzed ([link removed]) the main candidates in Ecuador’s upcoming presidential election on February 9. Across the political spectrum, contenders are positioning themselves as tough on organized crime, reflecting the country’s growing demand for mano dura, or hard-line, policies amidst rising violence and gang violence.
We also explored ([link removed]) how Mexican criminal groups are increasingly using improvised explosive devices; explained ([link removed]) why Trump’s proposed tariffs are unlikely to curb migration and fentanyl trafficking from Mexico; dissected ([link removed]) the intricate link between religion and gangs in Brazil; and examined ([link removed]) how record-breaking cocaine seizures in Portugal have solidified the country as a major gateway for drug trafficking from Latin America to Europe.
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** How Organized Crime Set the Agenda for Ecuador’s Presidential Elections ([link removed])
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Ecuador’s presidential candidates come from a wide ideological spectrum, but when it comes to organized crime, their campaigns – and their political survival thereafter – will depend on presenting themselves as hardliners.
On February 9, the country will vote in the first of what is widely expected to be a two-round election. The second round is set for April 13. Polling, and recent history, say the top two candidates who make the second round will be current President Daniel Noboa of the National Democratic Action Party (Acción Democrática Nacional – ADN) and Luisa González of Citizen Revolution (Revolución Ciudadana – RC), who was the runner-up from the 2023 special presidential election that Noboa won.
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** News Analysis
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** Criminal Groups Are Ramping Up Explosives in Mexico ([link removed])
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A series of recent attacks using improvised explosive devices in Mexico points to a generalization of warfare tactics among criminal … ([link removed])
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** Why Trump’s Tariffs Won’t Slow the Flow of Migrants or Fentanyl From Mexico ([link removed])
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Fresh threats of tariffs from the US government may prove counterproductive in combating migrant smuggling and fentanyl trafficking networks, and could … ([link removed])
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** Crime and Religion in Brazil: The Expansion of Rio’s Pure Third Command ([link removed])
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In a powerful illustration of how religion mixes with crime, Brazilian police scaled a water tank in a Rio de Janeiro favela and pulled down … ([link removed])
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** Portugal Becoming Key Hub for Cocaine to Europe ([link removed])
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Record-breaking cocaine seizures in Portugal in 2024 have cemented the country’s status as a crucial axis in drug trafficking routes into Europe. ([link removed])
** Upcoming investigation | The Women Ensnared in Tren de Aragua's Criminal Web in Peru
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On February 13, we will publish our latest investigation, where we delve into the lives of eight sex workers in Lima, Peru, who have come face to face with Tren de Aragua and its factions. Since 2019, this group expanded from Venezuela to other South American countries and has built its criminal power based on a network of extortion and violence, of which sex workers were some of the first victims. In addition, we tell the story of Isabel, a survivor of human trafficking who fell into the web of exploitation of the Gallegos, a faction of the Tren de Aragua.
** Impact
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What We Do > ([link removed])
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The latest chapter of our investigation into synthetic drugs and precursors continues to gain regional and international media attention, with coverage from Mexican outlets El Economista ([link removed]) and Expansión Política ([link removed]) , Cuban outlet 14ymedio ([link removed]) , and Fortune ([link removed]) magazine in Italy.
This investigation reveals how fentanyl producers are experimenting with new products and methods to increase potency. It is the latest installment in InSight Crime’s ongoing, years-long coverage of the fentanyl and synthetic drug trade.
Read the latest chapter of the investigation > ([link removed])
Explore our Fentanyl coverage > ([link removed])
** This Week's Criminal Profile: National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional – ELN) in Venezuela
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This week, fighting continued between the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional – ELN) and FARC dissident groups in Catatumbo, Norte de Santander, leaving at least 80 dead and 50,000 displaced from their homes. The ELN is Colombia’s last active leftist insurgency and the dominant criminal actor along the Colombia-Venezuela border, from which it has expanded into Venezuelan territory. The recent confrontations have once again highlighted the groups’ binational presence.
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Read our ELN in Venezuela profile > ([link removed])
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Read our Colombia coverage> ([link removed])
** Media Mentions
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February 4
The New York Times ([link removed])
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"El Salvador’s gangs once used jails as operational hubs to issue orders, extort businesses on the outside and recruit new members — something also seen inside prisons across Latin America. That no longer seems to happen “because of the extreme measures taken to control prisoners,” according to a 2023 report by Insight Crime, an organized-crime research group."
Read the cited investigation> ([link removed])
** Trending: Is El Salvador's Prison Offer to the United States an Empty Promise?
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El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele made a statement this week putting the country's, and region's, largest prison - the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (CECOT), at the service of the United States. But the announcement belies the reality of the Salvadoran prison system. High levels of overcrowding, coupled with legal obstacles to the transfer of prisoners between the two countries, make it difficult for Bukele's proposal to become a reality. Find out more about prison overcrowding in El Salvador and the problems of its prison system in our coverage.
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Explore our El Salvador coverage > ([link removed])
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Explore our coverage of prisons > ([link removed])
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