In 2022, organized crime is already looking at post-COVID opportunities and is ideally positioned to seize them.

Weekly InSight
January 7, 2022 ([link removed])
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In 2022, organized crime is already looking at post-COVID opportunities and is ideally positioned to seize them. For while COVID-19 may be beginning to weaken, autocracy and corruption have strengthened, providing an ideal environment for criminal groups to thrive.

In its annual GameChangers series, InSight Crime looks at the room for maneuver organized crime now has, as gangs threaten governments in Haiti and Ecuador, as the US’ influence dwindles and as forests and fisheries are plundered to exhaustion.


** Featured
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** GameChangers 2021: Long on Criminality, Short on Democracy in Year to Come ([link removed])
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Prediction of the criminal dynamics for 2022 is even harder than most years, as it involves predicting the march of coronavirus. Organized crime does not exist in a bubble. It is tied to the world economy and the free flow of goods and people, and the pandemic is wreaking havoc on both.

Read the analysis > ([link removed])
Earlier reports from the GameChangers series:

1. US Losing War on Corruption in Central America ([link removed])
2. Barbecue, Gangs and Political Power in Haiti ([link removed])
3. How Organized Crime Devoured the Amazon Rainforest ([link removed])
4. No End in Sight for Ecuador's Downward Spiral ([link removed])
5. How IUU Fishing Plundered Latin America's Oceans ([link removed])
6. COVID Chaos, Corruption, Deforestation and Synthetic Drugs ([link removed])


** NewsAnalysis
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All News ([link removed]) >
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** Mexico Ablaze as Jalisco Cartel Seeks Criminal Hegemony ([link removed])
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Drone attacks in Michoacán, bodies hanging from bridges in Zacatecas, attacks with remotely detonated explosives in Guanajuato...

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** Latin American Governments Easy Prey for Ransomware During COVID-19 ([link removed])
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A recent cyberattack that hit government websites in Brazil, including platforms...

A Pound of Flesh: Contraband Meat Wiping Out Paraguay's Farmers ([link removed])
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New Cocaine, Marijuana Trafficking Connections Between Colombia, Brazil ([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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** 'Barbecue' ([link removed])
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Former police officer Jimmy Chérizier, alias "Barbecue," is one of Haiti’s most important gang leaders. He is best known...
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** 'El Mencho' ([link removed])
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Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias "El Mencho," is the leader and founder of the Jalisco Cartel – New Generation (CJNG)...


** Media Mentions
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About Us ([link removed])
JANUARY 5, 2022
VOICE OF AMERICA ([link removed])

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"The ELN could win in this war (against FARC dissidents). It has more men, better political connections, more links with local communities and better relations with the Venezuelan government of President Nicolás Maduro."

--Co-director Jeremy McDermott on the recent clashes between the ELN and ex-FARC Mafia along the Colombia-Venezuela border


** Impact
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** InSight Crime Featured in Guide to Covering Organized Crime
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InSight Crime Co-director Steven Dudley has written a guide ([link removed]) to covering drug trafficking based on his decades of experience working in the world’s leading region for the drug trade. The chapter is part of an extensive series on reporting on organized crime published by the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN ([link removed]) ), an international association of news outlets that we are a part of. Dudley’s chapter offers ways to approach the drug trade that goes beyond kingpins, such as investigating distribution chains, elites who provide cover for trafficking operations and violence fueled by drug sales. The chapter also provides an overview of sourcing and 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. The guide ends with tools and tips for covering the drug trade, one of the world’s most lucrative illicit activities.

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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