Weekly InSight 
In our last newsletter of 2021, we look back at a year that challenged the resiliency of criminal groups and legal actors alike. Our annual GameChangers series, starting from Dec. 22, will review how organized crime continued to evolve, from Ecuador’s prisons to Haiti’s street gangs. InSight Crime has also been incredibly touched by the continued support of our readers and donors. Expect even deeper and wider coverage in 2022, starting with an investigation showing how Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro sits atop a meticulously constructed criminal empire, to be published in late January.
On the news front this week, InSight Crime looks at how El Salvador’s gangs sent a bloody message to President Nayib Bukele over backdoor negotiations to lower homicides – negotiations that have since led the US to impose sanctions on two Bukele administration officials. We also delve into Haiti’s role in the international cocaine trade after an explosive New York Times report that President Jovenel Moïse was compiling a list of top drug traffickers just before he was assassinated. 

In other news, Mexican cartels are finding a foothold in Canada; Indigenous communities in Brazil are struggling to save the world’s largest freshwater fish from poachers; and the sons of former Panama President Ricardo Martinelli are likely cooperating with US prosecutors after pleading guilty to money laundering charges related to the Odebrecht graft case. 

Featured

El Salvador's Gangs Send a Message in Blood

Though El Salvador stands on track for another record low in homicides this year, the country was recently shaken by a three-day killing spree, a bloody reminder that its newfound peace could be easily shattered.  

During a 72-hour period from November 9 to 11, El Salvador tallied 46 homicides. On the second day of bloodshed, 22 people were killed, the worst daily death toll this year, La Prensa Gráfica reported.

Read the analysis >

NewsAnalysis

Did Anti-Drug Crusade Lead to Haiti President's Killing?


An explosive new report suggests that the high-profile assassination of Jovenel Moïse may have been related to a crackdown on drug trafficking... 

How Mexican Cartels Settled in Canada


The story of the Mexican cartels and their influence abroad has mostly focused on the United States. But a number of Mexican groups have headed farther north, embedding...
Colombian Prosecutors Dismiss Memo Fantasma Libel Case Against InSight Crime Director
Sons of Former Panama President Plead Guilty in Odebrecht Investigation
The Battle to Save Brazil's Freshwater Giant, the Arapaima
Pins and Needles – How Credit Card Fraud Works in Latin America
Haiti Gangs Profit from Targeting Religious Groups
Peru's Anti-Corruption Crusade Grows Weaker
Could US Anti-Violence Models Work in Latin America?

Criminal Actors
Profiles of some of the notable criminal personalities and groups that have marked this week.

Browse by country >

Second Marquetalia

The Second Marquetalia is a group made up of former FARC guerrillas who refused to...

El Paisa

Hernán Darío Velásquez, better known as "El Paisa," is a former guerrilla commander who had gone missing for...

Media Mentions
DECEMBER 10, 2021
IRISH DAILY MIRROR
"The internationally renowned InSight Crime think tank says Kinahan was one of the leaders of the super cartel that smuggled 33 tonnes of cocaine worth a massive €6.9 billion on the streets into Holland in 2018 alone — but it has now been broken up by the US Drugs Enforcement Administration."

Impact

Investigation Earns Editor’s Pick Award

 
An InSight Crime and Igarapé Institute investigation mapping environmental crimes and illicit actors in Colombia’s Amazon Basin was named one of the year’s best Latin America investigations by the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN). A global association of some 200 news outlets that includes InSight Crime, GIJN praised our investigation for uncovering the ways “illicit mining, logging, wildlife trafficking, land grabbing, and coca cultivation are leading to deforestation and biodiversity loss,” as well as the links between “legal and illegal sectors” and how local communities are co-opted by criminal networks, generating “conflict and insecurity.” 
 

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InSight Crime · Medellin · Medellin 0000 · Colombia