InSight Crime

#NewInvestigation | When Corruption Kills: Extractives and Environmental Destruction in Western Honduras. bit.ly/3IKfYNH

🇲🇽 | A year ago, “El Mayo” Zambada, the legendary Sinaloa Cartel boss, was arrested. His capture ignited a violent internal war that is still reshaping the state of Sinaloa today. Read more about the impact of his fallout: bit.ly/4k2rkdK

🇪🇨 | Homicides in Ecuador this year have reached record levels, rising 22% compared to 2023, Ecuador’s most violent year on record. Read more about how President Noboa's administration remains unable to contain increasingly-violent criminal factions: bit.ly/4l25hnk

🇲🇽 | US officials say groups like the Sinaloa Cartel are using drones to drop explosives and transport drugs. They also warn that Mexican armed groups have the capacity to extend their use to the US. Read more about the use of drones by organized crime: bit.ly/44JVEVn

🇭🇳 | In 2011, former Honduran President Porfirio Lobo Sosa declared that #Honduras was "open for business." But opening up the country and its natural resources in this way had several unintended consequences, including the plundering of the environment. bit.ly/453tMdW

🎧 🇨🇷 | Once hailed as a beacon of stability in the region, Costa Rica is now grappling with what could be the most explosive drug scandal in its history. Listen to our latest narrated story on the recent arrest of a former top security official: bit.ly/40y0Edh

#NewAnalysis | Anti-Mining ‘Crackdown’ Shifts Ops Elsewhere in Venezuela. bit.ly/44P2M2T

🇲🇽 | An international manhunt is underway to capture a former security official accused of colluding with Mexico's CJNG. The timing of the investigation raises questions about why officials are only acting now, three years after the allegations emerged: bit.ly/3TZ2SyF

🇨🇴 | The US wants AGC boss “Gonzalito” extradited for cocaine trafficking. He allegedly has overseen production and shipments, and served as #2 under “Chiquito Malo.” But he’s still at large. Learn more about his role in the group: bit.ly/3rjdDRF

🚨 Our series “The Shadow of El Dorado,” a story about the dynamics of illegal gold in Segovia, told from the heart of Colombia, has been nominated for best journalism podcast in the Future of Media Awards 2025.  🎧 👉 Listen to it here: bit.ly/4iH36oY

🇭🇳 | Corrupt elite networks operating in the extractives industry in western Honduras are accelerating environmental destruction and violence against land defenders and other activists. Find out more in our latest investigation: bit.ly/415MjF3

🇨🇴 | The recent conviction of seven Chiquita Brands executives in Colombia reveals how private companies were key to the financing and expansion of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). Learn more about the connections and reach of the AUC: bit.ly/3QsisST

🎧 In May 2025, crime boss Dritan Gjika was arrested in the United Arab Emirates during an Interpol-led operation. His capture marked the fall of a man who for years moved like a ghost through Ecuador’s underworld.  👉 Listen to the story of his rise and fall here:…

🇪🇨 🇨🇴 | Washington Prado Álava, alias “Gerald,” one of Ecuador’s most prolific cocaine traffickers, was arrested in Colombia in 2017. Gerald’s capture was just one of many examples of Ecuadorian criminal leaders turning up in Colombia. Read more here: bit.ly/3GXIH0W

🇭🇳 | In 2023, Honduras lost more than 43,000 hectares of humid primary forest, the second largest amount in the last decade and more than double the amount lost in 2013. Find out more in our latest investigation: bit.ly/415MjF3

🇨🇴 | Colombia’s Supreme Court approved the extradition of José Gonzalo Sánchez, alias “Gonzalito,” the AGC’s No. 2 and a key cocaine trafficker. But authorities still haven’t arrested him. Read more about Gonzalito and the AGC: bit.ly/3rjdDRF

🇪🇨 | Authorities intercepted a phone conversation between alias “Negro Tulio,” leader of a faction of the Chone Killers, and a councilman in Duran, Ecuador, in which they discussed a plan to take over the municipal mayor's office. Learn more about the gang's history here:…

NEW: At @InSightCrime we spent the last year looking at the intersection of the extractives industry, official corruption, & environmental destruction in #Honduras. Our latest investigation tells the story of two local mayors at the heart of this issue.👇insightcrime.org/investigations…

🇨🇴 | Seven Chiquita Brands executives were recently convicted in Colombia, underscoring how private companies have been behind the financing and expansion of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). Read more about the connections and reach of the AUC:…