Cerca de las 2 horas de la mañana del 7 de abril, un grupo de hombres armados irrumpió en un centro de rehabilitación de drogas en la ciudad de Culiacán, México, y reunió a las 20 personas que vivían allí. El director del centro, ubicado en una tranquila calle residencial cerca de un mirador y una iglesia católica, intentó razonar con ellos. “Somos gente de Dios”, suplicó. No sirvió de nada. Los atacantes abrieron fuego, ejecutaron a ocho personas e hirieron gravemente a otra que moriría, poster...
Apr 29, 2025•10 min
Cinco años después del inicio de la pandemia de COVID-19, el crimen organizado adoptó nuevas estrategias y fortaleció su control sobre los territorios y las economías ilícitas en América Latina y el Caribe. Las cadenas de suministro del narcotráfico han cambiado, los grupos criminales han aprovechado la falta de oportunidades económicas para reclutar nuevos miembros, y la combinación de inseguridad y crisis económicas ha desatado una ola migratoria masiva que las estructuras criminales han explo...
Apr 15, 2025•10 min
Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean has adopted new strategies and strengthened control over territories and illicit economies. Drug trafficking supply chains have shifted, criminal syndicates have capitalized on the lack of economic opportunities to recruit new members, and insecurity combined with economic crises has sparked a massive wave of migration that criminal groups have exploited to their advantage. InSight Crime analyzes sev...
Apr 15, 2025•9 min
Two weeks ago, we published what was supposed to be the final episode of The Shadow of El Dorado, our podcast series exploring the story of Segovia, a small mining town in Colombia tainted by blood gold. But while we were publishing the series, one of the people we had followed throughout our investigation, Jaime Gallego, was abducted, tortured, and murdered. As one of the leaders of the mesa minera – or mining roundtable – Jaime represented Segovia’s informal miners in their struggles with the ...
Apr 10, 2025•19 min•Season 1Ep. 8
El descubrimiento de un campo de exterminio y trabajo forzado del Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) ha generado luto nacional en México y evidencia las crueles tácticas del grupo criminal para reclutar miembros. El 24 de marzo, el secretario de Seguridad Ciudadana de México, Omar García Harfuch, anunció durante una conferencia de prensa que las autoridades habían detenido a alias “El Comandante Lastra”, un integrante del CJNG presuntamente responsable de actos de reclutamiento forzado. Camp...
Apr 01, 2025•9 min
The Trump administration’s decision to return a high-profile gang boss facing terrorism charges to El Salvador as part of a controversial effort to deport hundreds of Venezuelan citizens could signal the US government’s willingness to compromise its longstanding MS13 crackdown in favor of mass deportation. César Humberto López Larios, alias “Greñas,” a veteran leader of the MS13 street gang, was flown to El Salvador on March 15 alongside other suspected Salvadoran gang members and more than 200 ...
Apr 01, 2025•8 min
We head back to Segovia after several years away. Has the town been able to escape the blood gold cycle? ____ This is the final episode of the series. If you’d like to explore past episodes, dive deeper into our investigation through related videos, interviews, documents, and photos, be sure to visit the podcast page . If you've already listened to the full series, we’d love to hear your thoughts—leave your comments below. Thanks for listening and supporting our work....
Mar 27, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Tensions between informal miners and the Canadian multinational that is the legal owner of the town’s gold have been building ever since we first arrived in Segovia. And now that conflict is reaching breaking point. __ Listen to the full series and explore additional content from the investigation here
Mar 20, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Segovia goes into lockdown when a new gold war begins as Colombia’s broader conflict enters a new chapter. But is this an existential battle between legal and illegal, or is that just wartime propaganda? __ This series follows reporters James Bargent and Mat Charles as they head to the Colombian town of Segovia, in search of the blood gold that contaminates global supply chains and ends up in the hands of everyday consumers. But what they find there challenges conventional understandings of conf...
Mar 13, 2025•26 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Global capitalism marches into town, pledging to save Segovia from itself. But what – or who – lies behind the promises of a new era of stability and prosperity for all? ___ This series is the product of 10 years of investigative work in one of the most dangerous corners of Colombia. This work is not only risky, it is also expensive. But we believe it is important. If you would like to help InSight Crime continue to produce in depth investigations as well as news and analysis of the security iss...
Mar 06, 2025•24 min•Season 1Ep. 4
The Frontino story leads us right back to them – the paramilitary groups that have lurked in the shadows of Segovia for generations – and our definition of blood gold begins to expand as the line between legal and illegal fades away. _ The Shadow of El Dorado is not just a podcast. We also have some incredible additional content, which will take you right into the thick of the action, and allow you to explore this head-spinning story with the depth it deserves. Explore each episode page for more...
Feb 27, 2025•37 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Our blood gold investigation takes an unexpected turn as we dive into the story of Frontino Gold Mines, a decades-old mystery that could hold the key to understanding how Segovia became the mafia town we see today. __ The Shadow of El Dorado is not just a podcast, we also have some incredible additional content to explore. Visit the podcast page to see videos, photos, interviews, and to follow the paper trail of key documents we uncovered during the investigation. (edited) _ UUVMzE4lQ2yETD5wguah...
Feb 20, 2025•33 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Our search for Colombia’s blood gold takes us to Segovia and the illegal mines at the very beginning of the global supply chain. But what we find there is a strange mirror world, where conventional narratives fall apart, and the names and labels we try to apply do not make sense. __ The Shadow of El Dorado is not just a podcast, we also have some incredible additional content to explore. Visit the podcast page to see videos, photos, interviews, and to follow the paper trail of key documents we u...
Feb 20, 2025•25 min•Season 1Ep. 1
In this episode, we dive into the 2025 presidential elections in Ecuador, a country that was once the envy of Latin America for its stability and safety. On February 9, voters went to the polls, and now, incumbent Daniel Noboa and challenger Luisa González are headed for a crucial second-round vote in April. But this election is taking place amid a severe security crisis. Formerly known for its low homicide rates and booming economy, Ecuador is grappling with surging violence and organized crime...
Feb 18, 2025•31 min
La relación del gobierno venezolano con el Tren de Aragua ha sido objeto de escrutinio tras las acusaciones de que el ministro del Interior pudo estar detrás de un complot para contratar a la banda para llevar a cabo un asesinato político en Chile. Las autoridades chilenas buscan la extradición de varios presuntos miembros del Tren de Aragua acusados de secuestrar y asesinar al exmilitar venezolano Ronald Ojeda en Santiago, la capital chilena. El 1 de marzo de 2024 el cuerpo de Ojeda fue encontr...
Feb 18, 2025•8 min
Apenas dos semanas después de tomar posesión, el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, dio un ultimátum a los gobiernos de Canadá, China y México. Si no intensificaban sus esfuerzos para interrumpir el flujo de drogas sintéticas y migración irregular hacia Estados Unidos, el gobierno impondría nuevos aranceles a casi todos los bienes importados de esos países. Por qué los aranceles estadounidenses no detendrán el flujo de fentanilo o de migrantes desde México | Escrito por Parker Asmann, y...
Feb 12, 2025•10 min
Just two weeks after taking office, US President Donald Trump gave the governments of Canada, China, and Mexico an ultimatum. If they did not step up efforts to disrupt the flow of synthetic drugs and irregular migration into the United States, the government would impose new tariffs on nearly all goods imported from those countries. Why Trump’s Tariffs Won’t Slow the Flow of Migrants or Fentanyl From Mexico | Written and narrated by Parker Asmann. Visit insightcrime.org for more information....
Feb 12, 2025•9 min
InSight Crime set out to the town of Segovia in search of Colombia’s blood gold – gold that makes us, the global consumers, complicit in conflict, crime, and corruption. But what we found was a trail that led not only to gangsters and warlords, but also to presidents and billionaire investors. Join us as we uncover the hidden story of Segovia’s descent from a company town to a mafia town and expose the savage capitalism that runs wild in the forgotten corners of the global economy. First two epi...
Feb 11, 2025•3 min
Los golpes en la puerta retumbaron en toda la casa. Era una mañana de un domingo de enero de 2021, en Tibú, un municipio del departamento colombiano de Norte de Santander, cerca de la frontera con Venezuela. “Escuchamos los golpes y yo miré a mi esposo”, contó Mar*. “Nosotros no esperábamos a nadie y nos extrañó que tocaran con tanta insistencia y fuerza”. El esposo de Mar, Jaime*, abrió la puerta y se encontró con seis hombres vestidos de civil. Sin embargo, se percató de que todos tenían en su...
Feb 11, 2025•51 min
A banging on the door echoed throughout the house. It was a Sunday morning in January 2021, in Tibú, a municipality in the Colombian department of Norte de Santander, near the Venezuelan border. “We heard the knocking, and I looked at my husband,” said Mar*. “We weren’t expecting anyone, and we were surprised at such insistent, forceful knocking.” Mar’s husband, Jaime*, opened the door and found six men in civilian clothes with long guns in their hands. The men identified themselves as members o...
Feb 04, 2025•43 min
After five years of booming fentanyl trafficking in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, “the bosses,” as he called the Sinaloa Cartel faction of the Chapitos, issued a blunt directive: stop all production in the state. Sinaloa had long been the epicenter in Mexico of illicit fentanyl production, a synthetic opioid linked to hundreds of thousands of overdoses across North America over the past decade. According to US authorities, the Chapitos – the sons of the infamous drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo”...
Jan 28, 2025•28 min
Tras cinco años de auge del tráfico de fentanilo desde el estado noroccidental de Sinaloa, “los señores”, como él se refiere a la facción de los Chapitos del Cartel de Sinaloa, habían dado una orden tajante: cesar por completo la producción en el estado. Sinaloa había sido el epicentro en México de la producción ilícita de fentanilo, el opioide sintético ligado a cientos de miles de sobredosis en Norteamérica durante la última década. Según las autoridades de Estados Unidos, los Chapitos – hijos...
Jan 28, 2025•28 min
En junio de 2024, el Ministerio de Gobernación de Guatemala presentó una denuncia ante el Ministerio Público contra 102 guardias penitenciarios señalados de corrupción. Los guardias habían estado a cargo de una infame prisión de pandillas en el departamento de Escuintla, conocida como “El Infiernito”. Días antes de que salieran a la luz las acusaciones, las autoridades descubrieron allí todo tipo de contrabando: armas, alcohol, animales vivos (entre ellos cocodrilos, mapaches y un águila), apara...
Jan 20, 2025•11 min
In June 2024, Guatemala’s Interior Ministry filed a legal complaint with the Attorney General’s Office against 102 prison guards it accused of corruption. The guards had been manning a notorious gang prison in the Escuintla department, known colloquially as “El Infiernito,” or “Little Hell.” There, days before the accusations surfaced, authorities discovered all manner of contraband – including weapons, alcohol, live animals (among them crocodiles, raccoons, and an eagle), air conditioning units...
Jan 20, 2025•9 min
El año 2024 ofreció algunos recordatorios contundentes de que el dinero del narcotráfico puede llegar a los niveles más altos de la política. Desde Honduras hasta México y Colombia, acusaciones de contribuciones provenientes del narcotráfico sacudieron los cimientos del poder y alteraron las relaciones internacionales. Este artículo hace parte de la serie GameChangers 2024 , que repasa las principales tendencias sobre el crimen organizado del año anterior y perspectivas para este año en la regió...
Jan 14, 2025•19 min
The year 2024 included some stark reminders that drug trafficking money can reach the highest levels of politics. From Honduras to Mexico to Colombia, allegations of narco-political contributions shook the foundations of power and disrupted international relations. This article, read by the author, chronicles these dramatic cases. It formed part of the 2024 GameChangers series , which recounts the year's most important trends in organized crime in the Americas. GameChangers 2024: Narco Money Sca...
Jan 14, 2025•16 min
In our last episode of this season we explore the incredible life of Raúl Mijango, the rebel turned congressman turned gang mediator turned inmate who personified what has since become a lost cause in El Salvador: negotiating with street gangs. And, ironically, may have been one of the first victims of a controversial, hard line strategy that has since led to the incarceration of tens of thousands of Salvadorans. This was the last episode of our first season of InSight Crime’s Podcast. Let us kn...
May 22, 2024•34 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Judge Ivana David has been working in the Brazil's prison system for 30 years, which gave her a front row seat to the emergence of the PCC . Its rise startled Brazil and beyond, but it is was not anomaly. In fact, it is part of a region-wide trend where prison-based criminal groups dominate the underworld in the Americas. More about the PCC and our coverage on prisons and gangs at insightcrime.org
Apr 18, 2024•32 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Abraham Barberi is a walking paradox. He is from Mexico but lives in the United States. He does missionary work but plays guitar in a death metal band. He is a Baptist pastor but advocates for migrants and asylum seekers. This is the story of how he navigates these contradictions in Matamoros, the birthplace of Mexico’s Gulf Cartel and one of the country’s most dangerous cities. Sociedad Demente, by My place Was Taken....
Apr 03, 2024•31 min•Season 1Ep. 3
On June 20, 2023, at least 46 inmates were killed by members of the 18th Street gang at Honduras’ National Female Penitentiary for Social Adaptation, in what was one of the deadliest massacres ever recorded in a women’s prison in Latin America. But it wasn’t the first massacre in this prison. Three years earlier, six women, allegedly linked to the MS13, also lost their lives at the hands of the 18th Street gang there. InSight Crime tells the stories of two rival gang members inside this prison, ...
Mar 13, 2024•31 min
