This week, InSight Crime reports from the ground in Sucre, Venezuela, on the state’s role in the drug trade and how it may shift after a US missile strike on September 2 destroyed a vessel that had departed from its coast, allegedly tied to Tren de Aragua.
Also this week, the assassination of a CJNG leader in Mexico underscores how fuel theft has become a catalyst for some of the country’s worst violence against citizens, police, and oil workers; the relentless growth of the global cocaine trade drives new smuggling innovations as traffickers experiment with creative ways to move their product; and the attack on Uruguay’s acting attorney general after a major drug seizure tied to Sebastián Marset signals the rising influence of violent criminal organizations in the country’s underworld.
This and more below.
