Weekly InSight | Old Regulars, New Faces in Violent Cities Ranking

This week, InSight Crime dived into the annual ranking of the world’s most violent cities, a list once again dominated by Latin America. Mexico has a gruesome tally, while there were many entries from Brazil and Ecuador made its first appearance on the list. We analyzed how organized crime is among the principal drivers fueling homicides.

Elsewhere, we looked at the daring prison escape of Colombian drug trafficker, alias Matamba, how the 400 Mawozo gang in Haiti has only grown more daring since kidnapping 17 foreign missionaries, why the US government is seeking to bring down a resilient Guatemalan drug clan and how Venezuela reckons with its new landmine crisis.

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

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MARCH 21, 2022
NEWSWEEK

"Perhaps nowhere else in the country are the challenges of a post-conflict Colombia more evident, and perhaps no other part of the world is more indicative of how an economy can be fueled by the production and trafficking of cocaine," InSight Crime said…"

InSight Crime’s extensive coverage of notorious Guatemala drug group – the Huistas – gained media attention after the United States government sanctioned the organization and offered $10 million reward for the capture of its top leader.

Central America investigator, Alex Papadovassilakis, outlined the new measures and their implications in an interview with Guatemala radio show “ConCriterio.” He explained how US authorities may struggle to bring down the group, whose leaders have long evaded arrest, thanks to a sophisticated security apparatus and extensive political contacts detailed in a 2016 InSight Crime investigation. ConCriterio also cited our work in an article outlining the Huistas’ past rivalries with Mexican cartel, the Zetas.

InSight Crime’s reporting was also picked up by Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre, which highlighted the Huistas’ extensive influence network in local and national politics. This coverage even reached Indonesia, where the IDN Times cited previous investigations into the group’s effort to secure impunity.

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