🇲🇽 | The naming of Juan Carlos Valencia González, alias "03," fits comfortably into the US government’s narrative on the CJNG in Mexico, but InSight Crime’s on-the-ground investigations suggest the distribution of power within the group is far more complex. https://bit.ly/4vsVf3Q

Euphoria’s season 3 portrays OnlyFans becoming intertwined with money laundering and criminal networks—is that true? Read our analysis: https://bit.ly/4gUe6Ru

🇧🇴 | Bolivian authorities say they dismantled four mobile cocaine base production sites in Villa Tunari, seizing over 500 liters of liquid cocaine and destroying chemicals used in the manufacturing process. Learn more about the global cocaine market. https://bit.ly/4uyAq7g

InSight Crime is looking for Social Media & Communications interns interested in journalism, digital media, and audience growth. Learn more and apply here: https://bit.ly/4urwW6C

InSight Crime investigator Juliana Manjarrés spoke with @dw about the main factors driving insecurity in the region. Although 2025 saw a general decline in homicides, the situation appeared to grow worse in some countries. Read more here: https://bit.ly/4sEYGTV

🇪🇨 | Darío Macas, the mayor of Machala in southwest Ecuador, was arrested on illicit enrichment charges. He is the fifth mayor to be arrested in Ecuador since August 2025 for supposed links to corruption and organized crime. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/3Sg2Hh0

🇲🇽 | The defense team of Ismael Zambada García, alias "El Mayo," has requested medical attention for the former crime boss after he confirmed his guilty plea in the US, where he could face life in prison. Learn more about the infamous Sinaloa Cartel leader. https://bit.ly/3SQnclI

🇲🇽 | This week, the United States re-upped the multimillion-dollar rewards for the remaining leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel’s Chapitos faction, just as US prosecutors are targeting the Mexican politicians who allegedly enabled the group. Read more here: https://bit.ly/4eUgiHB

🇪🇨 | Ecuador passed a law to expedite the extradition of criminal leaders. But this measure alone will likely have little impact on crime groups that easily adapt to the loss of their leaders. Read more here: https://bit.ly/4vEtIxi

🇨🇴 Colombia's High Commissioner for Peace confirmed that alias ​​“Zarco Aldinever,” second-in-command of the Segunda Marquetalia, was killed in an ambush carried out by the ELN last year. Learn more about the breakdown of this criminal alliance on the Colombia-Venezuela border. https://bit.ly/3J9pTN0

🇵🇦 | More than 25 people have been arrested in Panama after authorities dismantled an alleged drug trafficking network that used port workers to conceal cocaine in shipping containers bound for Europe and Oceania.

🇪🇨 | Ecuadorian authorities have identified Francisco Bermúdez, alias “Churrón,” as the leader of the Choneros gang. However, Bermúdez was recently captured in Guayaquil and is wanted on US drug trafficking charges. Learn more about the Choneros gang. https://bit.ly/3YcI7BR

🎙️ From volunteer firefighters to a heavy metal pastor. Season one of our podcast told the human stories behind organized crime. If you haven’t listened yet, start here. A new season is coming soon: https://bit.ly/3T6quUF

🇲🇽 | Vital resources like water are now being exploited by criminal groups across Mexico. In Sinaloa, Mexico’s security chief said authorities are investigating the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel for allegedly controlling water distribution.

The terrorist designation of Ecuador's Chone Killers is aimed at a gang already coming apart at the seams. Our latest InSight Take unpacks the Chone Killers, Ecuador’s shifting criminal map, and what this move says about US-Ecuador security ties. https://bit.ly/3SHuNG1

🇨🇴 | The latest data on coca cultivation in Colombia provides a roadmap for President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella to implement his plan to resume aerial spraying. But this proposal faces significant challenges. Read more in our analysis: https://bit.ly/4p64tBi

“Militarization has not necessarily brought peace to the region,” InSight Crime investigator Juliana Manjarrés told @DW in an interview about the drivers of violence in Latin America and the Caribbean. Learn more in our Homicide Round-Up: https://bit.ly/4sEYGTV

🇪🇨 | Darío Macas, the mayor of Machala in Ecuador's El Oro province, was arrested on illicit enrichment charges. He marks the fifth mayor to be arrested in the country since August 2025 for alleged corruption and links to organized crime. More on Ecuador here: https://bit.ly/3Sg2Hh0

🇲🇽 | Ismael Zambada García, alias "El Mayo," has confirmed his guilty plea in the US and acknowledged his possible life sentence in prison. The Sinaloa Cartel co-founder first pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and organized crime charges in August 2025. https://bit.ly/3SQnclI

🇵🇪 | Prosecutors allege Superior Court President José Alberto Tinco Luján led a corruption network that negotiated judicial rulings and accepted bribes to appoint court officials in Apurímac. Learn more about the country’s political dysfunction. https://bit.ly/4uIfDih

Does Euphoria season 3 realistically depict drug trafficking, firearms smuggling, and online sex work? Here is what the show gets right and wrong: https://bit.ly/4gUe6Ru

#NewAnalysis | Can A New President’s Hard-Line Approach Stop the Spread of Coca in Colombia?

InSight Crime is looking for Social Media & Communications interns interested in journalism, digital media, and audience growth. Learn more and apply here: https://bit.ly/4urwW6C

🇻🇪 | Dayonis Orozco Castillo, an alleged member of the Piratas del Tren de Aragua known as “Botija” or “Boty,” was extradited from Colombia to Chile. Read more about the gang’s use of violence in Chile. https://bit.ly/3vkJvr3

🇨🇴 | The Colombian High Commissioner for Peace confirmed the ELN killed alias "Zarco Aldinever," second-in-command of the Segunda Marquetalia, in an attack on the border with Venezuela last year. Learn more about his death. https://bit.ly/3J9pTN0

🇪🇨 | Ecuadorian authorities have captured Francisco Bermúdez, alias “Churrón,” the alleged successor to José Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias “Fito,” as leader of the Choneros. Here's all you need to know about this criminal group. https://bit.ly/3YcI7BR

🎙️ From volunteer firefighters to a heavy metal pastor. Season one of our podcast told the human stories behind organized crime. If you haven’t listened yet, start here. A new season is coming soon: https://bit.ly/3T6quUF

The Chone Killers have been designated a terrorist organization by the US. But in Ecuador, the group is already fragmented, leaderless, and splintering. So what will the designation change? Watch the latest InSight Take. https://bit.ly/3SHuNG1

🇲🇽 | Former Mexican security chief Genaro García Luna is one of the highest-ranking Mexican officials to be convicted for ties to organized crime. He also reportedly ran a vast corruption scheme in Mexico, where some of his co-conspirators have been targeted. https://bit.ly/4dNpNXi

🇵🇪 | Peruvian authorities arrested the president of the Superior Court of Apurímac for allegedly belonging to a criminal organization that sold court rulings and judicial appointments. Learn more about the country’s political crisis. https://bit.ly/4uIfDih

🇲🇽 | In addition to working with drug traffickers, former Mexican security chief Genaro García Luna allegedly coordinated a multimillion-dollar corruption scheme in Mexico, where one of his co-conspirators was just indicted. Explore other high-profile cases. https://bit.ly/4dNpNXi

Do drug couriers really smuggle fentanyl and cocaine across the US-Mexico border like Euphoria’s season 3 portrays? Find out here: https://bit.ly/4gUe6Ru

🇻🇪 | A Tren de Aragua gang member who was arrested in Colombia was extradited to Chile to face charges for allegedly murdering a police officer. Learn more about the expansion of this Venezuelan gang and their violent tactics in Chile. https://bit.ly/3vkJvr3

InSight Crime is looking for Social Media & Communications interns interested in journalism, digital media, and audience growth. Learn more and apply here: https://bit.ly/4urwW6C

🇨🇴 🇻🇪 | Colombia has approved Larry Changa’s extradition to Chile two years after the Tren de Aragua co-founder was arrested. What was his role in bringing the organization to Chile? https://bit.ly/3HH6q5x

🇨🇴 | More than 120 people from Remedios, Antioquia, have fled to Segovia to escape fighting between FARC dissidents and the Gaitanistas. The two groups are battling for control of a key region for gold mining. https://bit.ly/4iH36oY

🇧🇷 | Brazil fears the US terrorist designation of the PCC and Comando Vermelho could expose Brazilian banks to secondary sanctions—echoing the recent crackdown on Mexican financial institutions. Read our analysis: https://bit.ly/3Ry6jyq

InSight Crime is looking for Social Media & Communications interns interested in journalism, digital media, and audience growth. Learn more and apply here: https://bit.ly/4urwW6C

🇨🇴 🇻🇪 | Colombia has approved the extradition of Tren de Aragua co-founder Larry Changa to Chile. Why was Changa instrumental to the organization’s expansion across Latin America? https://bit.ly/3HH6q5x

🇪🇨 | Based in the Ecuadorian city of Durán, the Chone Killers split from the Choneros to become a powerful group in their own right. Now, the US government has designated them a terrorist organization. Everything about the group here: https://bit.ly/3QVzgnU

🇪🇨 | With the arrest of Tiguerones leader “Gato Negro” in Colombia, the Ecuadorian crime group loses another top leader. Read more about the group’s history, criminal economies, leadership structure, and fragmentation here: https://bit.ly/4gif0as

🇺🇸 | A report has analyzed the limits of the US military campaign against alleged drug vessels. How have these strikes unfolded in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific? Find out here: https://bit.ly/4oxipDs

🎙️ From volunteer firefighters to a heavy metal pastor. Season one of our podcast told the human stories behind organized crime. If you haven’t listened yet, start here. A new season is coming soon: https://bit.ly/3UK3iJj

🇨🇴 | Clashes between the Gaitanistas and the General Staff of Blocs and Fronts have put Segovia and Remedios in northeastern Antioquia on high alert. This area is home to significant mineral resources that attract the attention of these criminal groups. https://bit.ly/4iH36oY

🇧🇷 | Brazil's government warns that new US sanctions on two Brazilians and three firms accused of PCC-linked money laundering could unintentionally hit banks and innocent third parties. Read our analysis of the terrorist designations here: https://bit.ly/3Ry6jyq

🇦🇺 | Australia’s appetite for cocaine is making it an increasingly enticing target for South American traffickers. InSight Crime’s 2025 Cocaine Seizure Round-Up explores why criminal groups are expanding their horizons: https://bit.ly/4uyAq7g

🇻🇪 | From prison gang founder to fugitive mining boss, Johan Petrica has become the most likely heir to Tren de Aragua. But can he keep the organization together as authorities dismantle its operations across the region? Read the full analysis: https://bit.ly/4y0zHxU

#NewAnalysis | 5 Things Season 3 of Euphoria Gets Wrong—and Right—About Organized Crime Along the US-Mexico Border.

🇵🇪 | Peruvian president-elect Keiko Fujimori promises a tough response to crime, but delivering results could prove difficult: extortion, illegal mining, and a hostile Congress stand in the way. Read our analysis: https://bit.ly/4wicFkB

🇪🇨 | The arrests and extraditions of key members of the Ecuadorian crime group the Choneros may reconfigure the country’s criminal landscape but are unlikely to reduce growing insecurity. Find out why: https://bit.ly/4vEtIxi