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BACRIM The Greatest Threat to Colombia Land Restitution: HRW
Neo-paramilitary criminal gangs are the greatest threat to Colombians trying to reclaim stolen land, according to US NGO Human Rights Watch, though these new generation groups are often working on...
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Bolivia Enacts First Gun Control Law
Bolivia has enacted its first firearms legislation, which may be unlikely to have a dramatic impact on the country's already low murder rate, but will at least provide the state with the tools to...
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Peru Army General Created 620 'Phantom Soldiers'
A Peruvian army general has been accused of making up 620 "phantom soldiers" to claim extra funding, an illustration of the endemic corruption that reaches the highest levels of the country's...
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US Pushes Honduras to Crack Down on Cachiros
US authorities, with Honduras government assistance, have cracked down on one of Honduras' largest drug transport organizations, the Cachiros, seizing properties and businesses and in the process...
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Jalisco Cartel Announces 'Cleansing' of Mexican State
Mexico's Jalisco Cartel New Generation (CJNG) has announced its "arrival" in the central state of Guanajuato with public banners, in what may be an attempt to capitalize on problems experienced by...
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Is the Texis Cartel a 'Baby Cartel'?
El Salvador's defense minister has labeled the country's principal drug trafficking organization a "baby cartel," but what does the term mean and does the group fit into that definition? According to...
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Venezuela Prisons are 'Powder Kegs': NGO
A prominent NGO in Venezuela has strongly criticized the prison ministry's failure to address chaos in the penitentiary system after yet another violent confrontation left scores of prisoners dead....
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Peru Creates Airport Anti-Drug Task Force
Peru has created a multi-agency counternarcotics force to be stationed at the country's airports, a move likely to improve both drug interdiction and intelligence gathering in the country. The Airports...
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Why is Latin America the Only Region with Rising Homicide Rates?
A new United Nations report has found Latin America is the only region in the world where overall homicide rates increased between 2000 and 2010, with the violence rates recorded reflecting changes in...
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Ecuador Joins Regional Moves to Militarize Drug War
Ecuador has dispatched a military patrol to combat drug trafficking in the western coastal province of Manabi, a strategy likely linked both to the province's strategic importance to drug trafficking...
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Medellin Homicide Rate Tumbles After Mafia Pact
Homicides in Medellin, Colombia were down over 60 percent in October compared to the same month last year, a decrease likely linked to a pax mafiosa struck between the city's two most powerful criminal...
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Stalled Bolivia Coca Report Delivers Moderate Verdict
Bolivia's long-awaited coca use study has found the country needs to cultivate over 14,000 hectares of the crop to satisfy legal demand, a number more than double opposition claims but just slightly...
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Bishop Reignites Debate Over Nicaragua's Armed Groups
A bishop in Nicaragua has claimed newly emergent armed groups in the semi-autonomous north of the country are drug traffickers and kidnappers without political ends, as the church continues to weigh in...
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Grenade Attack in Colombia Raises Specter of New Emerald War
The man believed to have replaced "Emerald Czar" Victor Carranza as the most powerful figure in Colombia's emerald trade has named the rivals he blames for a recent attempt on his life, moving Colombia...
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Mexico Violence Costs Country 15% of GDP: Minister
Mexican officials have estimated violence costs the country up to 15 percent of its annual GDP, although it is unclear how this is balanced against the huge influx of foreign currency as a result of...
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Spanish Star Latest Connection Between Soccer and Crime
A Spanish judge has ordered proceedings against a director of the Atletico Madrid soccer team and a former Spain international for allegedly laundering money on behalf of drug traffickers from Mexico...
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Purging El Salvador's National Police: Mission Impossible
In the past fortnight, two newspaper articles have sought to address impunity within El Salvador's Civil National Police (PNC). One revealed the links between a Texis Cartel associate and the PNC's...
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Chepe Luna
As the most powerful boss of the Perrones “transportista” syndicate still on the loose, Jose Natividad Luna Pereira, alias “Chepe Luna,” has become one of the most wanted men in El Salvador. With their...
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MS-13
The Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, is perhaps the most notorious street gang in the Western Hemisphere. While it has its origins in the poor, refugee-laden neighborhoods of 1980s Los Angeles, the gang’s...
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Barrio 18 (M-18)
The 18th Street Gang, also known as "Barrio 18" or the "M-18," is one of the largest youth gangs in the Western Hemisphere. Like its better known rival, the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), the Barrio 18 has...
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