This week, Insight Crime published its annual homicide roundup, which provides a breakdown of murder rates and trends by country 

Weekly InSight
January 29, 2021
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This week, Insight Crime published its annual homicide roundup, which provides a breakdown of murder rates and trends by country in Latin America and the Caribbean. The widely anticipated report -- frequently cited by news outlets and policymakers -- contains some surprising dips in 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic. In other news from the region, we report on the uncertainty surrounding the killing of 19 migrants in Mexico; the surge in kidnappings in Haiti; and the illegal operations in mining, timber and fishing that are devastating Nicaragua’s Indio Maíz Biological Reserve. And please join us ([link removed]) next Tuesday, Feb. 2, when InSight Crime holds its online seminar on cross-border criminal dynamics in Guatemala.


** Featured
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** InSight Crime’s 2020 Homicide Round-Up ([link removed])
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While unrest gripped much of Latin America in 2019, it was the coronavirus that took center stage and ripped through the region in 2020, upending everything from commercial trade to the operations of local gangs and transnational criminal organizations.

It’s too early to tell with any degree of certainty how exactly the pandemic may have impacted levels of violence, but there were notable developments, including significant reductions in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Venezuela, historically some of the most homicidal nations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Read the Analysis > ([link removed])
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On Tuesday, February 2nd, InSight Crime kicks off its first online seminar resulting from our two-year investigation into cross-border criminal dynamics in the Southern Cone’s Tri-Border Area ([link removed]) -- where Argentina ([link removed]) , Paraguay ([link removed]) and Brazil ([link removed]) converge -- and in the Northern Triangle ([link removed]) countries ofEl Salvador ([link removed]) , Guatemala ([link removed]) and Honduras ([link removed]) .We begin with Guatemala, profiling its criminal groups and activities -- such as cocaine, arms and people trafficking -- through an online dashboard mapping tool created by InSight Crime. Co-director
Steven Dudley, along with InSight Crime investigators, will walk participants through the dashboard, taking an in-depth look at how transnational crime impacts a country through which drugs routinely move on their way to the United States.

In the same seminar, InSight Crime will present results of a deep-dive investigation from the Guatemalan Pacific, telling the story of Moyuta, Jutiapa, a town rocked by violent feuds between rival drug-trafficking families.

The discussion will be moderated by Marielos Monzón, coordinator ([link removed]) of the Ciclos de Actualización para Periodistas, a Guatemala-based program that provides journalists with workshops to hone their skills. The webinar begins at 5 p.m. Central America Time, and it will be broadcast live in Spanish on YouTube and in English on Facebook.

Sign up for the event > ([link removed])


** NewsAnalysis
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All News ([link removed]) >
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** Migrants Killed in Mexico Took Treacherous Path ([link removed])
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Nineteen people shot and burned in a Mexico border state near Texas is a macabre reminder that migrants being smuggled to the United States are targets of cartel violence. The victims — later identified...

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** Haiti President Calls for Aid as Gang Kidnappings Surge ([link removed])
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The president of Haiti is urging citizens to work together with the Caribbean nation’s police force to help quell an alarming uptick in...

Decades of Deforestation, Illegal Mining and Impunity in Nicaragua ([link removed])
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Cachiros Money Laundering Cells Still Operate in Honduras ([link removed])
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New Houses, Same Violence: Argentina’s Public Housing Challenge ([link removed])
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Bolivia Rivers Become Increasingly Popular Drug Trafficking Routes ([link removed])
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** Criminal Actors
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Profiles of some of the notable criminal personalities and groups that have marked this week.

Browse by country > ([link removed])
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** Gulf Cartel ([link removed])
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The Gulf Cartel is one of the oldest and most powerful of Mexico’s criminal groups but has lost territory and influence ...
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** Zetas ([link removed])
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Beginning as a group of deserters from an elite unit of the armed forces at the service of the Gulf Cartel, the Zetas would...


** Media Mentions
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About Us ([link removed])
JANUARY 26, 2021
AMERICAS QUARTERLY ([link removed])

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"At the heart of the problem, said Jeremy McDermott, co-director of the research group InSight Crime, is the failure of Colombia’s police and army to provide security in regions abandoned by the FARC."
View our investigation into the rapid rise of FARC dissident groups > ([link removed])


** Impact
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What We do ([link removed])


** A Course on Organized Crime in Mexico
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InSight Crime prides itself on collaborating with leading academic institutions, like American University's Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS ([link removed]) ), which has sponsored research initiatives and hosts our US offices, and the Universidad del Rosario, in Bogotá, home to our Colombian Organized Crime Observatory ([link removed]) .

Now we’ve partnered with the Tecnológico de Monterrey ([link removed]) , one of Mexico’s top universities, where students in international relations will convene next month to begin an inaugural five-week course taught in part by InSight Crime staff. Students will use InSight Crime’s methodologies to investigate drug trafficking and organized crime in Mexico, a country that has long been a focus of our organization.


** Our Trending Topics
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NORTHERN TRIANGLE ([link removed])
HOMICIDES ([link removed])
TRI-BORDER AREA ([link removed])
GULF CARTEL ([link removed])

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