This week, InSight Crime launches an investigation on the trafficking of wildlife from three countries in the region.

Weekly InSight
May 14, 2021 ([link removed])

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This week, InSight Crime launches an investigation on the trafficking of wildlife from four countries in the region. The series – conducted with American University's Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS ([link removed]) ) – uncovers the thriving trade in donkey skins from Colombia, the appetite for sea cucumbers poached from Honduras, the smuggling of Amazon river turtles in Peru, and the black market for reptile products in Mexico. Other notable reports from this week include an explainer on how Chinese brokers launder drug money for Mexico’s cartels; an analysis of how police brutality during Colombia’s national protests is undermining the legitimacy of the force; and a report on the trafficking of mercury used in illegal gold mining, which poisons


** Featured
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** All Creatures Great and Small – Plundering Latin America’s Wildlife ([link removed])
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Wildlife trafficking goes deeper than commonly understood.

Deeper under the sea in Honduras where sea cucumbers are fished by the ton to feed demand in Asia. Deeper into Colombia’s hinterlands where the donkey population has plummeted, their skins sold to make gelatin in China. Deeper into Peru’s turtle hatcheries and Mexico’s crocodile farms, where specimens intended to help restore populations in the wild are being trafficked all the same.

This investigative series was carried out in conjunction with American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS ([link removed]) ).

Read the investigation > ([link removed])


** NewsAnalysis
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** How Chinese Criminals Secretly Move Millions for Mexico Cartels ([link removed])
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While the involvement of Chinese money-laundering rings in handling drug proceeds from Mexico is nothing new, a number of recent...

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** Dirty Business – The Smuggling Pipeline Carrying Mercury Across the Amazon ([link removed])
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Smuggling networks are feeding illegal mining operations across the Amazon Basin with mercury...

Protests Shatter Already Fragile Image of Colombia’s Security Forces ([link removed])
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Showdown Brewing Over Fate of Runaway Mexico Governor ([link removed])
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Women Taking Bigger Role in Central America Extortion Schemes ([link removed])
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Earthly Delights: Religious Groups and Money Laundering in Dominican Republic ([link removed])
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Pandemic Spending Immunity Deepens El Salvador Corruption Concerns ([link removed])
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Rage, Rinse, Repeat – The Futile Cycle of Anger at Rio’s Police ([link removed])
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Texas Lawyer Sentenced for Shaking Down Colombia Drug Traffickers ([link removed])
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5 Animals Used to Smuggle Drugs in Latin America ([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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** PCC ([link removed])
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The First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital – PCC) was inspired by the Red Command (Comando Vermelho...
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** Red Command ([link removed])
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The Red Command (Comando Vermelho) is Brazil’s oldest criminal group, created in a Rio de Janeiro prison in the...


** Media Mentions
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About Us ([link removed])
MAY 6, 2021
NTD ([link removed])

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"You have to create a system of accountability that goes after the very corrupt elements within these governments. The people Biden put in place have the experience and ideas, but the bridge between that and actually doing something is long."
Co-director Steven Dudley on issues in Central America


** Impact
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** Tracking Environmental Crime Networks
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InSight Crime’s project manager for environmental crime investigations spoke about timber trafficking in a report by Efecto Naím ([link removed]) , a weekly Spanish-language television news program broadcast in 20 countries and the United States. In a segment on the broad range of criminal activities that encompass environmental crime in the region, María Fernanda Ramírez ([link removed]) discussed how fake documentation is used to move large quantities of illegal wood, devastating forests. As seen in our investigations on wildlife and timber trafficking ([link removed]) , InSight Crime has made it a priority to track the interrelated criminal activities and networks driving habitat destruction and biodiversity loss in the region.
See our In-Depth page on environmental crime > ([link removed])


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