This week, InSight Crime digs into illegal gold mining -- which has come to rival the drug trade for profits -- in some parts of Colombia and Brazil.
Weekly InSight
March 12, 2021 ([link removed])
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This week, InSight Crime digs into illegal gold mining -- which has come to rival the drug trade for profits -- in Colombia's Amazon and Pacific regions. We also look at how criminals continue to use the COVID-19 pandemic to fuel fresh scams, from Ponzi and pyramid schemes spreading across the Caribbean, to vaccine-related crimes, including bogus and smuggled vaccines. Other noteworthy reports include: a surge in cartel violence in the Mexican town of Jerez; the escalating fight by Guatemala’s political elites to stack the courts with friendly judges; and the deadly Haiti prison riot that was likely orchestrated to spring a notorious gang leader.
** Featured
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** A Spotlight on Environmental Crime ([link removed])
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Latin America's forests -- ranging from Mexico to Argentina -- are being cut down at an accelerating rate. Asia's black markets are driving a trade in wildlife products, while miners decimate Amazon jungle from Peru to Guyana. Environmental crime, worth billions of dollars globally, encompasses a broad range of activities -- including illegal mining, wildlife trafficking, illegal logging, land grabbing, and illegal fishing. In our new InDepth page, InSight Crime explores how organized crime acts as a motor for environmental crime and violence throughout the region.
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Join us Tuesday, March 16, when InSight Crime will discuss cross-border criminal dynamics in Argentina, as part of our ongoing series of events on Central America’s Northern Triangle and the Southern Cone’s Tri-Border Area. Argentina has a high rate of drug consumption and serves as an exit point for cocaine to Europe, making it attractive to traffickers. But it is also home to less visible yet lucrative organized crime activities, including being a hub for money laundering.
During the event, InSight Crime Co-director Jeremy McDermott will be joined by Ángela Olaya, project coordinator, and investigator Alicia Flórez, who will map out the country’s criminal actors and illicit economies using our online dashboard, developed as part of our two-year project on these complex tri-border regions. The discussion will be moderated by Carolina Sampó ([link removed]) , coordinator of the Center for Studies on Transnational Organized Crime (CeCOT) at Argentina’s Universidad Nacional de La Plata. The event kicks off at 4 p.m. Buenos Aires time and will be broadcast on YouTube in Spanish ([link removed]) and Facebook in English ([link removed]) .
Sign up for the event > ([link removed])
** NewsAnalysis
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All News ([link removed]) >
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** A Toxic Trade: Illegal Mining in Colombia’s Pacific Region ([link removed])
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Forests in Colombia are being ravaged by illegal mining, a criminal economy that has come to rival the drug trade for profits.
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** Ponzi and Pyramid Schemes Spread Across Caribbean ([link removed])
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A new investigative report shows Ponzi and pyramid schemes have proliferated across Caribbean countries during the pandemic...
Latin America Sees Rise in Vaccine-related Crimes ([link removed])
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Battle for Guatemala’s Top Courts Intensifies ([link removed])
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Prison Break Lays Bare Haiti Gang Leader’s Ties to Elites ([link removed])
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Massacres Spike in Antioquia as Colombia’s Urabeños Expand ([link removed])
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Cartel Violence in Central Mexico Taking Hold in Jerez ([link removed])
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Stay Frosty: Further Innovations in Drug Trafficking ([link removed])
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Plots of Amazon Rainforest Illegally Sold on Facebook ([link removed])
** Criminal Actors
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Profiles of some of the notable criminal personalities and groups that have marked this week.
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** Urabeños ([link removed])
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The Urabeños emerged from the ashes of Colombia’s paramilitary movement to become the dominant...
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** Cachiros ([link removed])
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The Cachiros were one of Honduras’ largest transport groups, with a net worth close to $1 billion. Made up of a family of former...
** Media Mentions
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About Us ([link removed])
MARCH 7, 2021
DEUTSCHE WELLE ([link removed])
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"The prices are much higher, and the risks are so much lower than in the Americas."
— InSight Crime Co-director
Jeremy McDermott
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** Impact
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The Cocaine Trade to Europe
InSight Crime Co-director Jeremy McDermott spoke to Deutche Welle after a seminar ([link removed]) -- held with our partners at the Global Initiative ([link removed]) -- on the evolution of the cocaine trade to Europe. The Deutche Welle report, which quoted McDermott extensively, was picked up widely. The event, discussed on social media and also covered by Deutche Welle ([link removed]) , proved timely: Belgium and German authorities had just recorded a seizure of 23 tons of cocaine, the largest in Europe’s history.
View a recording of the seminar here > ([link removed])
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