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 several ways the pandemic has impacted organized crime since it began five years ago. 

5 Years Later, How Has the Pandemic Changed Organized Crime in Latin America and the Caribbean? | Written and narrated by Henry Shuldiner.

Visit ⁠⁠insightcrime.org⁠⁠ for more information.

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 Colombian government and the Canadian multinational that is the legal owner of Segovia’s gold. This work earned him at least 23 death threats, and, ultimately, would cost him his life. This week, we are launching a special episode to tell his story.

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.

Campo de exterminio en México expone los horrores del reclutamiento forzado del CJNG | Escrito por Mariana Fernández y leído por Daniel Reyes.

Visite ⁠insightcrime.org⁠ para más información.

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 Venezuelans accused by US officials of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang.

López Larios was among a group of 14 members of the MS13’s historic leadership ring charged with terrorism in a landmark case initiated during Trump’s first administration. At the time, authorities called it the “highest-reaching and most sweeping indictment” to ever target the gang.

Could US Deportations Compromise Trump Administration’s MS13 Crackdown? | Written and narrated by Alex Papadovassilakis.

Visit ⁠insightcrime.org⁠ for more information.

We head back to Segovia after several years away. Has the town been able to escape the blood gold cycle? 

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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.

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.

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Listen to the full series and explore additional content from the investigation here

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?

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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 conflict minerals as they expose how it is not only warlords and gangsters that grow rich from dirty gold, but also global political and business elites.

We 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.

Listen to the series and explore all the aditional content here

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? 

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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 issues facing the region today, consider making a donation.

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. 

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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.

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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.

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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) 

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