Weekly InSight
This week, InSight Crime goes behind the dynamics of a shocking about-face, as US prosecutors drop a high-profile drug case against Mexico’s former defense minister. Other highlights include reports on a New York cop assisting Dominican drug gangs and a former top counter-drug official in Belgium under investigation in a record-breaking drug haul. Finally, we map the dangers facing Colombia’s demobilized FARC guerrillas at sites where their safety should not be in doubt: government reintegration camps.

Featured

Backroom Deal Trumps US Drug Charges Against Mexico’s Ex-Defense Minister

Authorities in Mexico will face one of their biggest anti-corruption tests yet after a bombshell deal was brokered with the United States to drop the federal drug charges that lead to the unprecedented arrest of the country’s former defense secretary.

Federal Judge Carol Amon granted the request to dismiss the case against Mexico’s former military chief, Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, at a November 18 hearing. This followed a shocking November 17 announcement from US Attorney General William Barr and Mexico Attorney General Alejandro Gertz Manero that prosecutors were seeking to withdraw the charges.

Read the Analysis >

InSight Crime Awarded Colombian National Journalism Prize 

Co-director Jeremy McDermott’s investigation into “invisible” drug lord “Memo Fantasma” has won Colombia’s prestigious Simón Bolívar National Journalism Award (Premio Nacional de Periodismo Simón Bolívar) in the investigative category. InSight Crime unearthed the shifting identities of Guillermo León Acevedo Giraldo, who moved tons of cocaine with paramilitaries and then laundered money as a real estate investor in Bogotá without facing a single arrest warrant. McDermott ultimately tracked Memo to Spain, where he lives as a wealthy businessman. The investigation resulted in a criminal probe into Memo and generated intense scrutiny of Colombia’s vice president, when InSight Crime revealed her husband had business dealings with the elusive drug trafficker. 

Read “The Invisible Drug Lord: Hunting The Ghost” >

NewsAnalysis

Corrupt New York Cop Crucial Link in Dominican Drug Trafficking Ring


A New York City police officer is accused of assisting a Dominican drug gang that moved hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, in a case... 

Why Former FARC Fighters are Abandoning Colombia’s Reintegration Camps


As part of the 2016 peace deal between Colombia’s government and the FARC, which ended decades...
Record Cocaine Haul at Belgium Port Uncovers Police Corruption
Contraband Turns to Bloodshed Between Ecuador and Peru
From Street Gangs to Presidents: InSight Crime’s Decade of Covering the Underworld
Cooking Cocaine in Full View of Guards at Paraguay’s Largest Prison

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

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BLO

Led by the Beltran Leyva brothers, this Mexican drug trafficking organization worked with the Sinaloa...

Ex-FARC Mafia

The ex-FARC Mafia are a series of criminal structures that emerged during the peace negotiations between the...

Media Mentions
NOVEMBER 18, 2020
THE GUARDIAN



 
"[Amlo’s] prosecutors are going to have to weigh up what the evidence against Cienfuegos is and whether it is strong enough to warrant a very public trial, against the loyalty of the army and how much he wants to keep the army onside."

— Managing Editor Chris Dalby

Read our analysis >
 

Impact

10th Anniversary Conference

 
Some 1,800 viewers tuned in to hear co-directors Steven Dudley and Jeremy McDermott speak with Juanita León, founder and director of Colombia’s La Silla Vacía, and Robert Muggah, the co-founder of Brazil’s Igarapé Institute. The conversation touched on everything from InSight Crime’s beginnings and plans for the future, to region-specific questions on the evolution of organized crime over the last decade. If you missed it, you can view recordings of the panels in both English and Spanish. 

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InSight Crime is sponsored by:
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Open Society Foundations
 

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InSight Crime · Medellin · Medellin 0000 · Colombia