This week, InSight Crime looks at the criminal actors menacing two of the region’s most dangerous borders.

Weekly InSight
October 8, 2021 ([link removed])

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This week, InSight Crime looks at the criminal actors menacing two of the region’s most dangerous borders.

We provide a snapshot of the fractured criminal landscape in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Once dominated by the Gulf Cartel and its paramilitary wing, the Zetas, the state now harbors a hornet’s nest of factions all warring to control pieces of the border underworld. Meanwhile, Colombia’s top military official says some 1,900 fighters belonging to Colombian armed groups are operating in four Venezuelan border states – a figure, we explain, that is difficult to pinpoint but has consequences for both countries.

Other notable reports from the week include a look at how Argentina’s latest sentencing of the Monos crime family boss will do little to curtail his influence from jail and a report on how firearms flooding into Ecuador is spurring extreme violence, including in its prisons.


** Featured
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** Cyclones, Scorpions and Old School Killers - The War for Tamaulipas ([link removed])
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It was so simple once. The Gulf Cartel and its ancestors maintained control of Tamaulipas for eight decades.

In the 1930s, Juan Nepomuceno Guerra smuggled whisky across the Rio Grande during Prohibition. The enterprise swiftly grew to all types of contraband. By the 1980s, this business had been formalized in the Gulf Cartel (Cartel del Golfo – CDG ([link removed]) ).

Read the story > ([link removed])


** NewsAnalysis
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All News ([link removed]) >
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** How Many Colombian Fighters are Really Inside Venezuela? ([link removed])
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Colombia’s top military commander says 40 percent of ELN and ex-FARC fighters operate in Venezuela, a figure that must be considered...

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** Ecuador: The New Corridor for South American Arms Trafficking ([link removed])
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As Ecuador reels from its worst prison massacre, military intelligence has recently revealed...

Small Aircraft Feed Illegal Mining Operations in Brazil's Amazon ([link removed])
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Argentina's Monos May Thrive with Leader in Jail for Decades ([link removed])
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The Digital Gold Rush - 5 Ways Bitcoin Helps Organized Crime ([link removed])
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Venezuela's International Appetite for Stolen Luxury Cars ([link removed])
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In the Riviera Maya, Cartel Extortion Schemes Know No Limits ([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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** Ex-FARC Mafia ([link removed])
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The ex-FARC Mafia are a series of criminal structures that emerged during the peace negotiations between...
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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 in recent...


** Media Mentions
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About Us ([link removed])
OCTOBER 5, 2021
THE URBAN VIOLENCE RESEARCH NETWORK ([link removed])

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"In a recent investigation published at InSight Crime, my co-author and I went as far as proposing that the PNH resembles a federation that welcomes politicians and officials involved in criminal businesses."

— Project Manager Victoria Dittmar writes on our investigation ([link removed]) into Honduras’ National Party


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


** InSight Crime Featured in Handbook for Reporting on Organized Crime
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In late September, the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN ([link removed]) ) published an excerpt ([link removed]) of its forthcoming guide on reporting organized crime in Indonesia. InSight Crime is a member of GIJN. The excerpt featured InSight Crime Co-director Steven Dudley’s chapter in the guide, which provides an overview of sourcing, security and developing narratives for these types of stories. The guide will be published in full during the November regional meeting of GIJN. The chapter culminates with a series of examples of exemplary work in the field, including an article ([link removed]) written by Dudley on Guatemala’s former interior minister, who, among other crimes, protected a known drug trafficker and money launderer using state resources. Just months after the publication of the article, the former interior minister was indicted in the US for
drug trafficking.
See our latest investigations > ([link removed])


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We go into the field to interview, report and investigate. We then verify, write and edit, providing the tools to generate real impact in fighting organized crime.
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