This week, InSight Crime looks at the mystery shrouding the assassination of one of Colombia's foremost drug traffickers and money launderers...

Weekly InSight
July 23, 2021 ([link removed])

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This week, InSight Crime looks at the mystery shrouding the assassination of one of Colombia's foremost drug traffickers and money launderers, Luis Agustín Caicedo Velandia, alias “Don Lucho.” We also report on how traffickers in Mexico are flooding the United States with the synthetic opioid fentanyl, the main drug propelling overdose deaths there. Find the article on our new InDepth page ([link removed]) , which focuses on the complex and evolving criminal dynamics at the US-Mexico border.

Meanwhile, up and down Mexico’s Yucután Peninsula, illegal fishing is out of control; authorities are seizing massive amounts of illegal marijuana along the Paraguay-Brazil border; security forces in Bolivia are bedeviled by chuteros, or vehicle smugglers; and in Mexico, forged vaccine cards appear in no time.


** Featured
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** US Drug Deaths Explode, Fueled by Mexico Production of Synthetics ([link removed])
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The United States saw a record toll in drug overdose deaths last year, driven in part by two powerful synthetic drugs mass-produced in Mexico and then smuggled over the border.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 93,331 drug overdose deaths in 2020, according to preliminary data ([link removed]) released by the public health agency. The devastating tally marked a nearly 30 percent increase from the 72,151 deaths recorded in 2019.

Read the article > ([link removed])


** NewsAnalysis
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All News ([link removed]) >
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** Invisible Drug Kingpin 'Don Lucho' Assassinated in Colombia ([link removed])
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One of Colombia's foremost drug traffickers and money launderers has been assassinated in Bogotá, leaving important unanswered questions...

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** Fishermen Call for Aid Against Illegal Fishing in Yucatán, Mexico ([link removed])
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Illegal fishing is out of control in the Mexican state of Yucatán, according to local fishermen and media, as illegal techniques, competition...

Bolivia Seemingly Powerless to Stop Rampant Vehicle Smuggling ([link removed])
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Paraguay Grapples With Ever Larger Seizures of Marijuana ([link removed])
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Coca Replaced by Cattle - The Shift in Southern Colombia's Deforestation ([link removed])
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Human Smugglers Profit From Despair of Haitian Migrants in Brazil ([link removed])
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Fentanyl and 2CB, Worrying New Cocktail on Colombia's Party Circuit ([link removed])
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Fake Vaccination Certificates: The Next COVID-19 Forgery in Mexico ([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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** Don Lucho ([link removed])
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For some two decades, Luis Agustin Caicedo Velandia, alias “Don Lucho,” is alleged to have played a significant role in...
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** Álex Saab ([link removed])
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Álex Nain Saab Morán is a Colombian businessman known for making shady million-dollar deals with the Venezuelan...


** Media Mentions
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About Us ([link removed])
JULY 20, 2021
EL PAÍS ([link removed])
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"The journalism non-profit InSight Crime has reported that Venezuela’s Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez agreed on a truce with the Cota 905 gang when she visited in 2017."

Read our profile of El Koki > ([link removed])


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


** Unraveling the Web of Elites Connected to Organized Crime
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On July 16, InSight Crime published Elites and Organized Crime in Nicaragua ([link removed]) , a deep dive into the relationships between criminal actors and elites in that Central American nation. This is the fourth and final case study for the Elites and Organized Crime series, which was sponsored by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC ([link removed]) ) of the Canadian government. Other case studies explored criminal-elite relationships in Guatemala ([link removed]) , Honduras ([link removed]) and Colombia ([link removed]) .

The series had a huge impact. Throughout the region, the investigations became touchstones for other investigators, journalists and policymakers seeking to make sense of these connections. Internally, the series altered our optic: We increasingly view crime from the top down, rather just from the bottom up. To be sure, some of the most entrenched networks not only work with elites, they are the elites. What’s more, elite crime makes all the crime-fighting institutions weaker through corruption, malfeasance and systematic depravity of resources.

See our latest coverage of elites and organized crime > ([link removed])


** Our Trending Topics
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US/MEXICO BORDER ([link removed])
INVISIBLES ([link removed])
SYNTHETIC DRUGS ([link removed])
COVID AND CRIME ([link removed])

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