This week, InSight Crime looks at the challenges facing Venezuela’s militaryas it attempts to uproot Colombian armed groups...
Weekly InSight
December 23, 2022 ([link removed])
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This week, InSight Crime looks at the challenges facing Venezuela’s military as it attempts to uproot armed groups ([link removed]) along its border with Colombia. As relations between the two countries improve, the border’s role as a drug trafficking corridor and refuge for Colombia’s illegal actors is posing problems.
Also in Venezuela, we review the opaque drug-seizure figures recorded by authorities this year and ask why the numbers don’t add up ([link removed]) . And in Mexico, we analyze the rapid expansion ([link removed]) of coca leaf cultivation in the state of Guerrero, as well as the revival ([link removed]) of maritime human smuggling routes along the country’s Pacific coast.
GameChangers 2022
This week, we began our annual end-of-year Criminal GameChangers 2022 ([link removed]) series. We cast an eye back across the last year to reveal the most significant changes to criminal dynamics in the Americas. Besides our always-popular Criminal Winner for the year, we also look at the consequences of Total Peace in Colombia, the brutal gang crackdown in El Salvador, the realignment of criminal power in Venezuela, as well as offering predictions for 2023. Keep an eye out for the rest of the GameChangers being published by December 29.
Read the first two installments of GameChangers 2022:
GameChangers 2022: ‘Pink Cocaine,’ Cross-Border Battles, and the Frustrating Fight Against Mafia States ([link removed])
GameChangers 2022: How the Chapitos Became Hyper-Capitalist Narcos ([link removed])
** Featured
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** Why Venezuela's Army Faces Uphill Battle to Quell Colombia Border ([link removed])
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In recent months, Venezuela has restored diplomatic ties with Colombia, welcomed Colombia's President Gustavo Petro, and agreed to host talks between Petro's government and the ELN guerrillas. But its military continues to struggle to quiet criminal activity along the joint border.
In late November, Venezuela deployed military units to patrol informal border crossings, known as trochas, in the states of Apure and Táchira.
Read the analysis > ([link removed])
** NewsAnalysis
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All News ([link removed]) >
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** Coca Cultivation Grows in Guerrero, Mexico, but Scalability Remains Doubtful ([link removed])
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The rapid expansion of coca leaf plantations in Mexico's southwestern state of Guerrero is the latest...
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** Venezuela's Opaque Drug-Seizure Figures Don't Add Up ([link removed])
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Venezuelan officials have reported seizing over 40 tons of drugs in 2022. But while the government claims this proves Venezuela’s...
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** Human Smugglers Take to the Waves Along Mexico’s Pacific Coast ([link removed])
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An increase in migration by sea along Mexico’s Pacific Coast has highlighted how adaptable the country's human smuggling...
** Impact
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What We Do ([link removed])
** 2022’s Top Investigations
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InSight Crime released a number of successful investigations and articles this year, covering a broad array of themes within the criminal landscape of the Americas and beyond. Here, we select some of the best:
Turkish Bananas: The Cocaine Road to Russia and the Persian Gulf ([link removed])
As part of our coverage of the cocaine pipeline to Europe, in July InSight Crime published an investigation focused on Turkey’s role as a transit hub for cocaine.
It was cited by Vice News ([link removed]) and the OCCRP ([link removed]) , while investigator Alessandro Ford was later interviewed by the BBC, and co-director Jeremy McDermott spoke with the Financial Times.
Read the analysis here > ([link removed])
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MS13 & Co. ([link removed])
In January, we published an investigation several years in the making, which looked at the expansion of the MS13 gang into Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico from its home in El Salvador.
The investigation won second place ([link removed]) at the 2022 Latin American Conference of Investigative Journalism (Conferencia Latinoamericana de Periodismo de Investigación - COLPIN) Awards, a prestigious regional investigative journalism award given by the Press and Society Institute (Instituto Prensa y Sociedad). It was also nominated ([link removed]) for a Gabo Award 2022 in October this year.
Read the investigation here > ([link removed])
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How Tren de Aragua Controls the Destiny of Migrants from Venezuela to Chile ([link removed])
And in July, we published an investigation into how Venezuelan mega-gang, Tren de Aragua, controlled the human smuggling and human trafficking routes into Chile. Author Laura Ávila was interviewed by the Washington Post ([link removed]) and BioBioChile ([link removed]) , while the widespread media coverage the article generated led to Chilean President Gabriel Boric declaring that he would expel the gang from the country.
Read the investigation here > ([link removed])
** Criminal Actors
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Profiles of some of the notable criminal personalities and groups that have marked this week.
Browse by country > ([link removed])
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** ELN
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The National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional - ELN) is...
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** Ex-FARC Mafia
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The ex-FARC mafia are a series of criminal structures that emerged during the...
** Media Mentions
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About Us ([link removed])
DEC 14, 2022
VICE NEWS ([link removed])
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"'The growing numbers of MS13 members fleeing includes leaders and that they are fleeing to different countries like the US, Mexico and Guatemala seem to be related to the crackdown happening in El Salvador,' Steven Dudley, co-director of InSight Crime, told Vice News."
Read the cited article > ([link removed])
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