Weekly InSight – El Salvador Homicide Drop

Weekly InSight

August 14, 2020

This week, InSight Crime delves deep into El Salvador and its violent street gangs, probing why the MS13 has failed at large-scale drug trafficking and asking who deserves credit for the country’s recent plunge in killings.

Other reports cover the full spectrum of organized crime in the region, including the US indictment of an ex-Guatemalan minister now on the lam, the vast sums of money laundered by a drug gang in the Dominican Republic, the Cuban government’s treatment of citizens reselling goods as criminals, and the mystery behind bulk shipments of cash intercepted in Argentina.

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Homicide Drop in El Salvador: Presidential Triumph or Gang Trend?

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has credited his crime-fighting plan for a 60 percent drop in homicides this year. But the country’s violent street gangs deserve some — if not more — of the credit.

Between January and July 2020, El Salvador logged 697 murders, or about three a day, El Mundo reported. The tally is a massive drop from the 1,630 killings that occurred during the same period in 2019, a year that saw El Salvador reach one of its lowest murder rates in recent history.

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NewsAnalysis

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5 Times the MS13 Tried — and Failed — to Become Drug Traffickers

The US indictment of an MS13 leader in El Salvador chronicles the latest failure of the infamous street gang to transform itself...

US Indictment of Fmr Minister Rekindles Stalled Guatemala Investigations

The indictment of a former economics minister in Guatemala for money laundering — some of the very same charges he faced...

Will Convicted Drug Money Launderer Run for President in Honduras?

In Chile, Drug Trafficking Becoming More Prominent and Violent

Drug Ring Exposes Massive Money Laundering in Dominican Republic

For Cuban Government, Desperate Resellers are Dangerous Criminals

Source of Cash-Filled Trucks Confounds Argentina Officials

Criminal Actors

Profiles of some of the notable criminal personalities and groups that have marked this week.

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Cachiros

The Cachiros were one of Honduras’ largest transport groups, with a net worth close to $1 billion. Made up of a family of former...

MS13

The Mara Salvatrucha, or MS13, is perhaps the most notorious street gang in the Western Hemisphere. While it has its...

Media Mentions

About Us

AUGUST 8, 2020
EL PAÍS

"InSight Crime linked the identity of Memo Fantasma to Acevedo in a report published in March. After a two-year investigation tracking his footprints, they found him in Spain’s capital, where he reportedly laundered part of his fortune in real estate properties."

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Impact

What We do

Memo Makes Headlines

InSight Crime’s investigation into the “invisible” drug lord Memo Fantasma made waves in Spain, where national newspaper El País reported on the Madrid-based businessman’s potential extradition and tracked his luxury lifestyle.

Meanwhile, Memo continued to dominate headlines and spark interest on social media in Colombia after InSight Crime Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by several news outlets, including Caracol Radio, RCN Radio, Blu Radio, and Semana TV.

An upcoming InSight Crime investigation will highlight the criminal alliances of the elusive trafficker turned money launderer.

Read the six-part investigation >