Weekly InSight
This week, former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández found himself shackled and in a bulletproof vest after the United States requested his extradition on drug charges. InSight Crime looks at his spectacular downfall, from strongman US ally to alleged trafficker working with a network that moved up to 500 tons of cocaine. His arrest comes just weeks after he left the country’s top office. 

Other highlights this week include a top Panamanian gang boss captured in Costa Rica; a look at the long criminal career of a Colombian drug lord who found new opportunity with his former enemies; and a pair of corpses hanging from a bridge – not in Mexico but Ecuador. 

Featured

Former Honduras President Accused of Drug Conspiracy That Moved 500 Tons of Cocaine

With the arrest of former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández on drug charges, US prosecutors have brought down a powerful figure once considered a US ally, but who later emerged as a lynchpin in what they allege amounted to state-sponsored trafficking.

Read the analysis >

NewsAnalysis

Bodies Hanging from Bridges - Where Mexico Led, Ecuador Follows


The discovery of two bodies hanging from a bridge in Ecuador may be the starkest sign yet of the country’s accelerated spiral into violence... 

'Invisible’ Drug Trafficker Joins Forces with Former Enemies in Colombia


An "invisible" Colombian drug lord whose criminal history dates to the country's former paramilitary army has been revealed to have set up drug...
Safehouses, Bodyguards and Fake ID - Panama's Top Drug Trafficker on the Run
What Will Come of Peru Jailing Shark Fin Traffickers for First Time?
What are the Most Corrupt Countries in Latin America?
Targeted Killings: The Favored Modus Operandi of Paraguay's Drug Gangs

Criminal Actors

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

Browse by country >

Tony Hernández

Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández Alvarado is a former Honduran congressman, the brother of the...

Bagdad

Bagdad, along with its rival Calor Calor, is one of Panama’s two main gang federations, consisting of 30-40 smaller gangs...

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Candidates for either position should send a cover letter and CV to [email protected]

 
Applications will be accepted until March 15.
 

Media Mentions

FEBRUARY 12, 2022
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO NEWSDAY


"(Prime Minister Keith) Rowley said such guidelines exist, but then quoted a recent article on sex-trafficking in Venezuela by an independent Latin American publication named InSight Crime."

Impact

MS13 & Co.

 
Though the mere mention of the MS13 still conjures an image of warring, tattooed gang members, the reality is that the group now functions more like a mafia. This week, InSight Crime wraps up an investigation that goes inside the MS13’s activities in four countries: Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. 

The series begins near the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula, where the gang has turned a massive trash dump into a recycling bonanza. We then reveal its grip on a neighborhood in El Salvador, where it controls fleets of vehicles, distributes fuel and sells bottled water. In Guatemala, the gang has shallower roots compared with neighboring countries, but its name still draws poor young men willing to carry out its dictates. The series ends in Mexico, where a longtime gang leader has built a “program” to profit from smuggling migrants – and his fellow gang members – north. 

A product of myriad interviews, the series tells the recent history of this notorious street gang through the voices of members themselves.
 

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InSight Crime · Medellin · Medellin 0000 · Colombia