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InSight Crime

InSight Crime is a non-profit think tank and media organization dedicated to investigating and analyzing organized crime and citizen security issues across the Americas.^[1]^[2] Co-founded in 2010 by journalists Steven Dudley and Jeremy McDermott, it originated in Medellín, Colombia, with initial operations involving a small team focused on field-based reporting.^[3]^[1] The organization maintains offices in Washington, DC, and Medellín, employing around 50 investigators spanning the Americas and Europe to produce investigative journalism, academic research, criminal databases, and policy recommendations.^[1] Its core activities include profiling major criminal groups such as MS-13 and drug trafficking organizations, examining illicit economies, and hosting conferences and workshops to influence public and policy discourse.^[4]^[1] Notable achievements encompass Dudley's 2019 Lukas Prize-winning book on MS-13 and partnerships with institutions like American University's Center for Latin American & Latino Studies and Colombia's Universidad del Rosario for joint observatories on organized crime.^[1] While praised for deepening understanding of criminal dynamics through empirical fieldwork and data-driven analysis, InSight Crime has encountered legal challenges, including defamation claims from subjects of its reporting, reflecting the risks inherent in scrutinizing powerful illicit networks.^[5]

Founding and Early Development

Establishment and Initial Focus (2010–2012)

InSight Crime was co-founded in 2010 by Steven Dudley, an American journalist with prior reporting experience for outlets including NPR and The Washington Post, and Jeremy McDermott, a British former British Army officer and Latin America correspondent for Jane's Intelligence Review. The organization formally launched its digital platform, www.insightcrime.org, on December 1, 2010, from Medellín, Colombia, beginning operations with a core team of four staff members and one intern.^[6] ^[3] ^[1] From inception, InSight Crime concentrated on investigative analysis of transnational organized crime networks in the Americas, prioritizing empirical tracking of criminal actors, their structures, and operational dynamics over broader policy advocacy. Early outputs included detailed profiles of key groups such as drug trafficking organizations and urban gangs, alongside weekly publications—typically three to five articles—detailing arrests, asset seizures, and enforcement actions to contextualize immediate events within longer-term patterns.^[6] ^[3] ^[7] By early 2011, the organization expanded into collaborative multimedia investigations, producing its inaugural joint project in February with PBS Frontline and the Center for Investigative Reporting, which examined Mexican cartel fragmentation and violence spillover effects. Through 2012, efforts emphasized data-driven retrospectives, such as annual trend assessments highlighting shifts in smuggling routes, corruption ties, and state responses, drawing on open-source intelligence, field interviews, and regional court records to map causal links in crime escalation.^[6] ^[7] ^[8]

Expansion of Research Scope (2013–2015)

In 2013, InSight Crime extended its analytical focus beyond immediate criminal operations to encompass the Colombian government's peace negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), examining intersections between guerrilla demobilization, organized crime infiltration, and post-conflict security risks. This coverage, informed by the organization's Colombia-based operations, highlighted how illicit economies could undermine peace accords, marking an expansion from drug trafficking profiles to broader conflict resolution dynamics. Concurrently, InSight Crime initiated its annual Game Changers series, compiling trend analyses across the Americas, including gang truce evaluations in El Salvador and cartel fragmentation in Mexico, to identify pivotal shifts in criminal governance and state responses.^[6]^[9] The following year, 2014, saw further broadening into justice sector scrutiny, with reports assessing anti-organized crime efforts such as prison reforms and prosecutorial capacities amid persistent violence. InSight Crime's inaugural regional homicide round-up quantified lethality trends—such as Brazil's record highs and Venezuela's underreporting—facilitating cross-national comparisons and critiques of data reliability in official statistics. The Game Changers edition emphasized policy shortcomings, like stalled truces and ineffective extraditions, underscoring the need for adaptive strategies against evolving threats like urban gang expansion.^[10]^[11] By 2015, research scope incorporated institutional corruption as a core enabler of organized crime, with the Game Changers report detailing scandals in Brazil's Petrobras and Mexico's political cartels, linking elite complicity to criminal resilience. Annual homicide assessments continued, revealing spikes in countries like Honduras (over 90 per 100,000 inhabitants) and declines in others via targeted policing, while field investigations deepened coverage of transnational flows. These developments aligned with ongoing partnerships, such as collaborations with academic centers for joint data compilation, enhancing methodological rigor through integrated journalism and empirical fieldwork across at least six countries.^[12]^[13]^[1]

Organizational Mission and Operations

Core Objectives and Methodologies

InSight Crime's core objectives center on enhancing understanding of organized crime dynamics in Latin America and the Caribbean to inform public discourse, policy formulation, and security strategies. Established as a non-profit journalistic organization, it aims to deepen debate on these issues by delivering rigorous reporting, data-driven analysis, and investigative insights that highlight threats to citizen security, such as drug trafficking, gang violence, and corruption networks.^[1] The organization seeks to bridge gaps in coverage by focusing on underreported trends, providing actionable diagnostics for governments, businesses, and civil society, while emphasizing the socioeconomic and political roots of criminal phenomena rather than superficial narratives.^[14] Methodologically, InSight Crime employs a hybrid approach combining investigative journalism with academic standards, involving extensive fieldwork across urban and rural areas of the region. Researchers conduct on-the-ground interviews with a wide array of sources, including state officials, victims, and members of criminal groups, to gather primary data while cross-verifying through secondary monitoring of regional news outlets, official reports, and academic journals—tracking hundreds of sources daily to build a proprietary database.^[1] This process prioritizes empirical evidence over anecdotal claims, with teams of approximately 50 professionals, comprising journalists, analysts, and regional experts fluent in multiple languages, operating from a virtual newsroom supplemented by local partnerships to navigate access challenges in high-risk environments.^[1] Analytical outputs derive from this data aggregation, featuring detailed profiles of criminal organizations, countries, and key actors, often visualized through infographics, maps, and timelines to illustrate networks, territorial control, and economic impacts. Collaborations with institutions like American University and Universidad del Rosario enable specialized studies, such as those on transnational criminal networks or elite-criminal alliances, applying qualitative assessments alongside quantitative metrics like homicide disaggregation or market valuations.^[1] Independence is maintained through diversified funding and editorial firewalls, though methodologies acknowledge limitations in volatile contexts, such as reliance on open-source intelligence where direct access is restricted.^[15]

Leadership and Staffing

InSight Crime is led by co-directors Steven Dudley and Jeremy McDermott, who also founded the organization in 2010.^[1] Dudley, a senior research fellow at American University's Center for Latin American and Latino Studies, previously served as bureau chief for the Miami Herald in the Andean region and authored the book MS-13: The Making of America's Most Notorious Gang in 2020; he holds degrees from Cornell University and the University of Texas at Austin.^[16] McDermott, a former British Army officer and war correspondent, has reported on Latin America for outlets including the BBC and The Economist, with a master's degree from the University of Edinburgh.^[16] The chief operating officer is María Elena Ortegón, who joined in 2014 and holds degrees in business administration, public accounting, and business law, along with executive education from Harvard Kennedy School and ESADE.^[16] Senior editorial roles include managing editor Deborah Bonello, who has edited since 2006 and authored NARCAS: The All-Women Drug Trafficking Network of Mexico's Michoacán in 2023, and deputy director of content Mike LaSusa, who oversees production after rejoining in 2022.^[16] The organization employs approximately 50 staff members, including investigators, reporters, and specialists in design, translation, and data analysis, distributed across offices in Washington, D.C., and Medellín, Colombia, with personnel in at least six other countries throughout the Americas and Europe.^[1] Many investigators hold advanced degrees in fields such as Latin American studies, citizen security, and conflict resolution, enabling field-based research on organized crime dynamics.^[1] This staffing model supports a multilingual newsroom focused on empirical investigations rather than traditional academic or journalistic silos.^[1]

Publications and Outputs

Digital Platform and Journalism

InSight Crime operates a comprehensive digital platform centered on its website, insightcrime.org, which serves as the primary hub for publishing investigative journalism and analysis on organized crime in the Americas.^[1] The platform features daily news analysis, in-depth investigations, country-specific profiles, and criminal group dossiers, often incorporating interactive elements such as infographics, maps, and searchable databases compiled from monitoring hundreds of sources across media, government reports, and field investigations.^[1] These resources emphasize empirical data on topics like drug trafficking, extortion, and corruption, with content updated regularly to reflect evolving criminal dynamics.^[17] The organization's journalism integrates traditional reporting with academic methodologies, relying on on-the-ground fieldwork, interviews with law enforcement, policymakers, and even illicit actors to generate causal insights into crime patterns.^[1] This approach prioritizes verifiable evidence over narrative-driven accounts, with reporters conducting extended investigations in high-risk environments across Latin America and the Caribbean.^[18] InSight Crime maintains a staff of approximately 50 journalists, researchers, and analysts based in the Americas and Europe, enabling multilingual coverage in English and Spanish.^[1] To enhance efficiency, the platform incorporates emerging technologies, including AI tools for interview transcription, data analysis, and pattern recognition in large datasets, as noted in coverage by the Global Investigative Journalism Network in May 2025.^[19] Multimedia outputs extend beyond text, featuring YouTube videos that visualize complex investigations, such as timelines of cartel alliances or smuggling routes.^[1] The journalism avoids extractive practices by prioritizing long-term engagement with affected communities and collaborating on capacity-building workshops for local reporters, as demonstrated in sessions led in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago in March 2025.^[20] InSight Crime's digital outputs also include policy-oriented recommendations derived from data-driven findings, disseminated through the website's dedicated sections to inform governments, NGOs, and academics.^[1] The platform's credibility stems from its hybrid model, blending media accessibility with think-tank rigor, though it has drawn attention for hosting content that challenges official narratives on crime statistics in regions like Mexico and Colombia.^[18]

Investigative Reports and Books

InSight Crime conducts in-depth investigations into organized crime dynamics across the Americas, producing detailed reports that combine field research, data analysis, and interviews to map criminal networks, economies, and state interactions. These reports often span dozens of pages and function as standalone publications, available as free PDF downloads on their website, emphasizing empirical evidence over narrative speculation.^[21] A prominent example is the 2023 report "Tren de Aragua: From Prison Gang to Transnational Criminal Enterprise," which traces the Venezuelan syndicate's evolution from a prison-based group to an operator in at least 12 criminal economies across five countries, including extortion, human smuggling, and drug trafficking, supported by court documents, victim testimonies, and law enforcement data.^[22] Similarly, "The Rise of the PCC" (circa 2020) analyzes the Primeiro Comando da Capital's expansion from Brazilian prisons into international drug routes and money laundering, highlighting its disciplined structure and adaptation to state crackdowns through quantitative prison population data and alliance mappings.^[23] Other key investigations include "Honduras Elites and Organized Crime" (2023), which documents alliances between business families and traffickers via financial records and elite interviews, revealing how cocaine flows funded political influence.^[24] The "Women and Organized Crime in Latin America" report (2020) challenges simplistic victim-perpetrator dichotomies by cataloging women's roles in logistics, enforcement, and leadership within groups like Mexico's cartels, drawing from over 100 case studies and regional crime statistics.^[25] Multi-country projects such as NarcoFiles explore judicial corruption in cocaine trafficking cases, while Stolen Amazon investigates environmental crimes like illegal logging tied to narco groups in the rainforest basin.^[21] While InSight Crime does not formally publish books as an organization, its co-director Steven Dudley has authored two major works informed by the organization's research. "MS-13: The Making of America's Most Notorious Gang" (HarperCollins, 2020) reconstructs the Salvadoran gang's origins, U.S. deportation-fueled growth, and transnational operations using declassified intelligence, member defections, and homicide trends from the 1980s to 2010s.^[26] His earlier book, "Walking Ghosts: Murder and Guerrilla Politics in Colombia" (2004), examines paramilitary violence and demobilization processes through archival records and survivor accounts, predating but aligning with InSight Crime's focus on post-conflict criminal persistence.^[26] These publications extend the organization's methodologies into book form, prioritizing verifiable timelines and causal links over unsubstantiated claims.

Multimedia and Events

InSight Crime maintains a dedicated multimedia section on its website, featuring audio and video content derived from its investigative journalism on organized crime dynamics across the Americas.^[27] This includes podcasts that explore corruption, criminal networks, and regional security challenges through on-the-ground reporting and expert analysis.^[28] The organization's flagship podcast series, InSight Crime Podcast: From the Ground Up, launched to highlight investigative findings, with episodes addressing topics such as prison gang rivalries, coca production lineages, and societal impacts of crime. Specific installments include "EP01 - Why," examining foundational drivers of criminal expansion; "EP02 - Daughter of Coca," tracing familial ties in narcotics trade; "EP03 - One Prison, Two Gangs," detailing a 2023 massacre in a Honduran women's prison involving Barrio 18 dynamics; "EP04 - Demented Society"; "EP05 - Crime Strengthens Crime"; and "EP06 - The Rebel and the Peacemaker."^[29] Complementing this, the seven-part series The Shadow of El Dorado investigates illicit economies in shadowlands of global capitalism, with episodes like "01. The Frontino Men," "02. Them," "03. Meet the New Boss," "04. Venom," "05. The Strike," "06. War Stories," and "07. He Met a Pilgrim Shadow," culminating in "08. He Met a Pilgrim Shadow."^[30] Video content is disseminated via InSight Crime's YouTube channel, which hosts podcast episodes, interviews, and visual reports to broaden accessibility of field-based research spanning Patagonia to the Andean regions.^[31] These formats prioritize narrative-driven analysis over sensationalism, drawing from over 15 years of fieldwork to inform public and policy discourse on citizen security.^[32] InSight Crime organizes and participates in events, including virtual panels and webinars, to discuss empirical trends in organized crime. Notable hosted events include the October 2025 panel "Crime, Climate, and COP30: Environmental Crime Challenges in Latin America," analyzing intersections of criminality and climate policy failures; "Tren de Aragua: Fact vs. Fiction," presenting three years of investigation into the Venezuelan gang's operations; and "The Synthetic Drug Revolution: Lessons From 10 Years in The Field," held on October 3, 2025, chronicling synthetic narcotics expansion via Latin American fieldwork.^[33]^[34]^[35] The organization also engages in international forums, such as the 11th DIG Awards in Modena, Italy, from September 24–28, showcasing investigative journalism.^[17] These events emphasize data-driven insights from homicide monitoring and regional expert panels, often virtual to facilitate broad participation.^[36]

Funding and Financial Model

Primary Funding Sources

InSight Crime primarily relies on grants from philanthropic foundations and bilateral aid agencies dedicated to promoting transparency, security, and governance in the Americas. The Open Society Foundations, established by George Soros, provided initial seed funding in 2010 to launch the organization, enabling its early focus on organized crime analysis, and has continued as a major supporter through multi-year grants supporting fieldwork, investigations, and publications.^[6]^[37] Additional core funding comes from government-linked entities, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of State, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, and the British Embassy in Colombia, which contribute to specific projects on anti-corruption, drug policy, and criminal justice reform.^[2]^[38] These sources accounted for a significant portion of the organization's $1.9 million in grants and contributions reported for its most recent fiscal year, with U.S. federal contracts adding over $223,000 in direct awards.^[39] To mitigate dependence on institutional grants, InSight Crime has diversified by soliciting unrestricted individual donations and pursuing consultancy revenues, though these remain secondary to foundation and aid support as of 2025.^[40]^[41] The organization emphasizes unrestricted funding to maintain editorial independence, but detailed breakdowns of funder allocations are not publicly itemized beyond aggregate financial statements.^[42]

Consultancy and Partnerships

InSight Crime provides consultancy services focused on organized crime and citizen security, offering bespoke risk analysis, diagnostics, and strategies for intervention in Latin America through its network of experts across the Americas and Europe.^[1] These services integrate investigative journalism, field research, and academic methodologies to support clients including policymakers, development organizations, and private sector entities seeking actionable insights on criminal dynamics.^[43] The organization maintains formal partnerships with academic institutions to enhance its research and advisory capabilities. It is hosted by the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS) at American University, facilitating joint investigations, reporting, analysis, and training programs tailored for academics and practitioners.^[2]^[1] Additional collaborations include the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, where InSight Crime co-hosts the Colombian Organized Crime Observatory, and a 2021 partnership with the University for Peace in Costa Rica to bolster expertise on regional crime trends.^[1]^[44] InSight Crime engages with international development and governmental bodies for applied projects. In 2021, it collaborated with Chemonics International, a U.S.-based firm operating in over 70 countries, on citizen security initiatives involving co-director Steven Dudley's expertise.^[45] It has provided advisory input to EU-backed programs like El PACCTO, which aims to strengthen rule of law against transnational criminal networks, as evidenced by consultations in 2025.^[46] Sweden has served as a long-term partner since at least 2024, aligning with national strategies to counter organized crime through shared research and policy support.^[47] These partnerships extend to expert consultations on specific threats, such as Venezuela's hybrid criminal governance models, where InSight Crime delivers comprehensive assessments for stakeholders.^[48] While emphasizing independence, the organization's advisory roles often involve training and diagnostics derived from its investigative outputs, though details on client-specific contracts remain limited in public disclosures.^[1]

Impact and Influence

Contributions to Policy and Academia

InSight Crime's analyses have informed policy debates on organized crime and security in Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly through evaluations of government strategies to combat drug trafficking and enhance citizen safety.^[49] For instance, their investigations into the unintended effects of U.S. immigration policies have highlighted how restrictions have bolstered human smuggling networks controlled by Mexican organized crime groups, with smuggling fees rising from $500–$1,000 per migrant in the early 2000s to $5,000–$10,000 by the 2020s amid increased enforcement.^[50] These findings, disseminated via policy briefs and reports, have prompted discussions on balancing border security with migration management to mitigate criminal exploitation.^[51] The organization's work has been referenced in official policy documents, including Colombia's 2023 National Drug Policy Plan, which cited InSight Crime's data on emerging coca cultivation in neighboring countries like Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela to underscore regional cultivation trends beyond traditional Andean sources.^[52] Similarly, their research appeared nine times in a 2023 Organization of American States (OAS) report examining organized crime's effects on women and girls, as well as in Caribbean Community (CARICOM) assessments, influencing multilateral approaches to gender-specific crime impacts.^[53] Co-director Steven Dudley provided expert testimony to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on May 26, 2016, detailing the structure and operations of transnational criminal networks, which contributed to congressional deliberations on countering illicit economies.^[54] In academic circles, InSight Crime functions as a primary data and analytical hub, hosted by the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies (CLALS) at American University since its inception, supplying field-based investigations and training programs designed for scholarly use.^[2] Partnerships with institutions such as the University for Peace in Costa Rica, formalized in 2021, have integrated their expertise into academic curricula, enhancing methodologies for studying local crime dynamics like those involving Costa Rican gangs.^[44] Their outputs, blending journalistic rigor with think-tank analysis, support graduate-level research and foster a pipeline of investigators through internships that emphasize empirical fieldwork, as evidenced by collaborations training students on organized crime typologies.^[55] This hybrid approach has elevated academic discourse by providing verifiable, on-the-ground insights into criminal governance, often filling gaps left by state-centric studies.^[3]

Notable Investigations and Findings

InSight Crime's investigations into the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua have documented its rapid expansion across Latin America, including territorial clashes with Colombian underworld groups along the Venezuela-Colombia border. A 2025 field-based report revealed that the gang secured control over Colombian-side operations for extortion and smuggling after Venezuelan authorities restricted cross-border activities, limiting Tren de Aragua's access to its home base while enabling alliances with local criminals for drug trafficking and migrant exploitation.^[56] The analysis separated verified activities—such as systematic extortion of Venezuelan migrants—from unsubstantiated claims of hemispheric dominance, attributing the gang's growth to Venezuela's economic collapse and weak governance rather than centralized command structures.^[57] These findings underscored Tren de Aragua's role in diversifying beyond narcotics into human smuggling, with evidence from arrests exposing large-scale cocaine shipments coordinated through Colombian ports.^[58] Annual homicide round-ups by InSight Crime have quantified organized crime's dominance in regional violence, attributing approximately half of Latin America's murders to criminal disputes over drug routes, territories, and extortion rackets. Their 2024 analysis reported 121,695 homicides across the region, yielding a median rate of 20.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, with spikes in countries like Ecuador and Honduras linked to gang wars and state responses.^[59] Over the past decade, these reports tracked a shift from concentrated hotspots to broader diffusion, correlating homicide trends with cocaine production surges in Colombia—where cultivation nearly doubled since 2020—and the fragmentation of groups like MS-13, which lost territorial control in El Salvador following government crackdowns.^[60]^[61] In the narcotics domain, InSight Crime mapped the evolution of Colombia's cocaine trade, identifying a transition from hierarchical cartels to fluid networks of small producers and transporters amid record coca cultivation levels. A 2025 review highlighted how Colombian output, estimated to match or exceed prior peaks, fueled global supply chains, with Venezuelan corridors like Sucre state emerging as key transit points despite U.S. drone strikes targeting traffickers.^[62]^[63] Complementary work on Mexico exposed the precursor chemical supply chain for synthetic drugs like fentanyl, tracing imports from Asia through Central American ports to clandestine labs, sustaining production despite enforcement efforts.^[64] Collaborative probes into environmental crimes revealed extensive criminal involvement in Amazon Basin illegal logging and mining, with InSight Crime and the Igarapé Institute documenting how deforestation hotspots overlap with drug trafficking routes, generating billions in illicit revenue.^[65] These efforts, grounded in field interviews and satellite data, linked such activities to broader organized crime ecosystems, including alliances between narco-groups and indigenous land encroachers.

Criticisms and Controversies

Allegations of Ideological Bias

Critics have alleged that InSight Crime displays a left-center ideological bias, particularly in its coverage of drug policy and organized crime, with the organization rated as such by Media Bias/Fact Check due to advocacy and editorial positions aligning with liberal perspectives that emphasize structural critiques over punitive enforcement.^[66] A primary basis for these claims stems from InSight Crime's significant funding from the Open Society Foundations (OSF), founded by George Soros, which provided seed grants starting in 2010 and continued support including $250,000 in 2022; OSF's known advocacy for drug decriminalization, harm reduction, and reduced reliance on militarized interdiction has led conservative commentators to argue that this financial tie influences the outlet's framing of Latin American crime dynamics, potentially downplaying the efficacy of hardline security measures in favor of socioeconomic and policy reform narratives.^[6]^[67] For instance, InSight Crime's analyses of U.S.-backed anti-drug operations and regional governments' aggressive tactics, such as those under El Salvador's Nayib Bukele, have drawn accusations of selectively highlighting human rights concerns while underemphasizing reductions in violence achieved through incarceration-heavy strategies, reflecting OSF-aligned priorities over empirically driven assessments of deterrence outcomes.^[60]^[66] In response to such critiques, InSight Crime has publicly noted receiving correspondence questioning its impartiality owing to Soros funding but maintains that its reporting prioritizes data-driven investigations into criminal economies regardless of ideological leanings.^[67]

Funding Influence and Transparency Concerns

InSight Crime, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, relies heavily on grants from foundations and government entities for its operations. The Open Society Foundations (OSF), founded by George Soros, has been a primary donor since providing the initial seed grant in 2010, including $250,000 for general support in 2022.^[6] Other key funders include the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the British Embassy in Colombia, and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada.^[2] These sources support investigative journalism on organized crime, but the organization's financial model emphasizes diversification, with efforts to cultivate individual donors and reduce dependence on large institutional grants as noted in funding reports from 2017 onward.^[40] Concerns over funding influence arise primarily from OSF's dominant role and its advocacy for progressive policies, such as drug decriminalization and harm reduction, which align with but may shape coverage of narcotics-related organized crime. Media evaluators have rated InSight Crime as left-center biased, attributing this to editorial positions that favor liberal perspectives on issues like criminal justice reform, potentially reflecting donor priorities over neutral analysis.^[66] Government funding from entities like USAID introduces risks of policy alignment pressures, as U.S. aid often ties to anti-drug and anti-corruption agendas that could prioritize certain narratives, such as emphasizing state corruption over alternative enforcement models. While InSight Crime discloses major donors publicly, critics argue that incomplete transparency on grant conditions or smaller contributions limits scrutiny of how funding might subtly direct research foci, echoing broader issues in non-profits where foundation influence can embed ideological tilts without overt editorial interference. No formal investigations into undue influence have been documented, but the concentration of support from ideologically aligned sources—OSF's global portfolio exceeding billions in grants for open society initiatives—raises questions about causal independence in reporting on politically sensitive topics like leftist insurgencies or drug policy failures.

Recent Activities and Developments (2016–Present)

Key Projects and Publications

InSight Crime's "Elites and Organized Crime" project, initiated in 2016, investigates the symbiotic relationships between influential political and economic elites and criminal networks across Latin America, employing field investigations, interviews, and conceptual frameworks to map corruption and illicit alliances in countries including Guatemala, Honduras, and Brazil.^[68]^[69] This ongoing series has produced country-specific reports highlighting how elites facilitate activities like money laundering and resource extraction, with findings disseminated through detailed publications and databases.^[68] The organization published "Tren de Aragua: From Prison Gang to Transnational Criminal Enterprise" in October 2023, based on extensive fieldwork in Venezuela, Chile, and Peru, documenting the group's expansion from a Tocorón prison-based entity to involvement in human smuggling, extortion, and drug trafficking across at least eight countries, with over 300 members arrested internationally by mid-2023.^[22] Similarly, the December 2020 "PCC" report analyzed Brazil's Primeiro Comando da Capital as South America's dominant prison gang, detailing its control over 70% of São Paulo's prisons and international drug routes via partnerships with groups like Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel.^[23]^[70] In 2022, "Criminal Networks in the Americas" classified regional crime structures into state-embedded, social-constituency, and entrepreneurial types, drawing on case studies from Colombia to Mexico to illustrate adaptive strategies amid law enforcement pressures.^[71] Environmental-focused efforts include the 2021 "Roots of Environmental Crime in the Colombian Amazon," co-authored with Igarapé Institute, which linked illegal gold mining and logging to armed groups controlling 40% of protected areas, contributing to a 20% deforestation rise from 2016-2020.^[72] Recent publications encompass the 2023 "El Salvador's Perpetual State of Emergency," evaluating President Bukele's anti-gang crackdown that incarcerated over 70,000 suspects and reduced homicides by 70% from 2022 peaks, while noting risks of due process erosion through interviews with 50+ officials and victims.^[73] The 2024 "Prison System in Ecuador" report examined massacres claiming 400+ lives since 2021, attributing chaos to gang infiltration and corruption, with drug seizures surging 500% post-2023 state of emergency.^[74] Annual outputs like the 2023 Cocaine Seizure Round-Up track interdictions exceeding 2,000 metric tons regionally, informing data-driven journalism on trafficking shifts.^[75]

Responses to Regional Crime Trends

InSight Crime has documented and evaluated government-led crackdowns on organized crime groups across Latin America, highlighting their often short-term efficacy amid persistent trends like gang expansion and homicide spikes. For instance, in Venezuela, the organization critiqued "mega-operations" by security forces as relying on violent neighborhood invasions that displace rather than dismantle gangs, with limited evidence of sustained reductions in violence as of 2023.^[76] Similarly, analyses of regional efforts against the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua noted clashes with local underworlds in Colombia and futile attempts to curb its spread through border controls, underscoring how displacement from origin countries fuels transnational adaptations.^[56]^[77] The think tank has emphasized economic dimensions in policy responses to trends such as synthetic drug proliferation and migrant smuggling booms, arguing in 2025 that anti-crime strategies should incorporate cost-benefit analyses of illicit economies to avoid unintended incentives for criminal diversification.^[78] In response to post-COVID shifts, including reshaped drug routes and heightened political infiltration by criminals, InSight Crime's annual GameChangers reports assessed how governments in countries like Ecuador and Chile adapted with foreign group-focused intelligence and international aid, though often hampered by corruption and resource gaps.^[79]^[80] These evaluations draw on field investigations to advocate for intelligence-driven approaches over mass incarcerations, which have correlated with volatile homicide rates tied to 50% of regional killings by organized actors as of 2023.^[81] Broader critiques extend to external influences, such as U.S. immigration policies exacerbating border crime dynamics since the 1990s, with InSight Crime recommending hemispheric coordination to address migration-fueled revenues for groups exploiting record displacements in 2024.^[82]^[83] Through its public policy portal, the organization compiles case studies on citizen security reforms, urging data transparency to counter trends where organized crime undermines democratic processes and economic growth.^[49]^[84]

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[21]
Investigations - InSight Crime
Donate today to empower research and analysis about organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean, from the ground up.Women and Organized Crime · El Salvador's (Perpetual) State... · Cash Cows
[22]
[PDF] Tren de Aragua: From Prison Gang to Transnational Criminal ...
InSight Crime investigations have uncovered evidence that today the group is involved in at least 12 criminal economies in at least five countries.<|separator|>
[23]
[PDF] The Rise of the PCC - InSight Crime
PCC Expansion in Brazil .................................................12 ... Research was conducted in Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay. The project ...
[24]
[PDF] Honduras Elites and Organized Crime - IDRC Digital Library
Various of these reports are also referenced in Julie Marie Bunck and Michael Ross Fowler, Bribes, Bullets, and. Intimidation: Drug Trafficking and the Law in ...
[25]
[PDF] Women and Organized Crime in Latin America
Written by the Colombian Organized Crime Observatory ... An exhaustive review of articles, news reports and books on women and organized crime in the region shows.
[26]
Steven Dudley, Author at InSight Crime
Dudley is the former bureau chief of the Miami Herald in the Andean Region and the author of Walking Ghosts: Murder and Guerrilla Politics in Colombia ( ...
[27]
Multimedia - InSight Crime
Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a weekly digest of the latest organized crime news and stay up-to-date on major events, trends, and criminal dynamics ...Missing: conferences webinars
[28]
Audio - InSight Crime
Join us on our podcast, as we decipher the various layers of corruption, unravel the complex dynamics of crime, and bear witness to the indomitable human spirit ...Missing: conferences webinars
[29]
InSight Crime Podcast: From the Ground Up
Join us on our podcast, as we decipher the various layers of corruption, unravel the complex dynamics of crime, and bear witness to the indomitable human ...Missing: conferences webinars
[30]
Podcast Series: The Shadow of El Dorado - InSight Crime
This seven-part investigative journalism podcast journeys deep into the shadowlands of the global economy, where savage capitalism runs wild.
[31]
InSight Crime - YouTube
InSight Crime is a think tank and media organization that seeks to deepen and inform the debate about organized crime and citizen security in the Americas ...Missing: webinars | Show results with:webinars
[32]
InSight Crime podcast - YouTube
We have spent the last 15 years investigating organized crime in the Americas from the ground up. Now, on our audio channel, you can hear the best of our ...Missing: multimedia events conferences webinars
[33]
Crime, Climate, and COP30: Environmental Crime Challenges in ...
Join InSight Crime experts and special invited guests for a virtual panel discussing how organized crime can fuel climate change, how the failings of ...
[34]
Tren de Aragua: Fact vs. Fiction - InSight Crime
Discover the truth behind Tren de Aragua. Join InSight Crime's virtual panel revealing findings from 3 years of investigation.
[35]
The Synthetic Drug Revolution: Lessons From 10 Years in The Field
Oct 3, 2025 · For more than 10 years, InSight Crime has conducted extensive fieldwork across Latin America to chronicle the accelerated expansion of ...
[36]
Events from February 2, 2021 – July 30, 2024 - InSight Crime
Donate today to empower research and analysis about organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean, from the ground up. Donate.<|separator|>
[37]
Providing Insight: A Look into Organized Crime
At this event cohosted by the Open Society Foundations, the creators of Insight, a new website that focuses on organized crime in Latin American and the ...
[38]
Experts: US Aid Slashes Will Hinder Anti-Drug, Crime Efforts
Apr 30, 2025 · InSight Crime receives funding from the US State Department. A State Department official told InSight Crime that the changes would make ...Missing: sources | Show results with:sources
[39]
Insight Crime Profile - HigherGov
Date Founded. Dec. 6, 2017. Initial Registration. Aug. 12 ... Under the direction of Jeremy McDermott, InSight Crime will provide the following services: 1.
[40]
Insight Crime Latin America - Core Support | Openaid
* InSight Crime has been working to diversify its funding sources. This includes efforts to build a base of individual donors and a systematic approach to ...
[41]
Make a regular donation and gain access to exclusive benefits
Your donation will fund: – Our regular coverage of organized crime and corruption; – On-the-ground fieldwork and research; – Investigations that shine a light ...Missing: sources | Show results with:sources
[42]
Donations | Terms and Conditions - InSight Crime
InSight Crime prioritizes unrestricted funding. However, restricted gifts ... Donors should complete and sign a gift or pledge agreement form detailing ...
[43]
Work With Us - InSight Crime
InSight Crime is staffed by an extraordinary multicultural team based in 10 countries. You'll work in a collaborative network that is having an impact every day ...Missing: consultancy | Show results with:consultancy
[44]
InSight Crime Deepens Its Connections with Universities
May 31, 2021 · A partnership with the University for Peace will complement InSight Crime's research methodology and expertise on Costa Rica.Missing: consultancy | Show results with:consultancy
[45]
Collaborating on Citizen Security Initiatives - InSight Crime
Jun 8, 2021 · For our latest collaboration, Co-director Steven Dudley worked with Chemonics, a DC-based development firm active in more than 70 countries ...
[46]
Q&A: Europe Steps Up Work with Latin America Against Criminal ...
Feb 19, 2025 · InSight Crime interviewed Marc Reina-Tortosa, an executive manager at El PACCTO, the EU initiative supporting the strengthening of the rule of ...Missing: consultancy collaborations<|separator|>
[47]
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-international-cooperation-key-combating-organized-crime-c97df
[48]
InSight Crime Provides Expertise on Venezuela's Hybrid Criminal ...
Aug 13, 2024 · InSight Crime continues to provide comprehensive analysis of organized crime dynamics in Venezuela through the Venezuela Organized Crime ...Missing: consultancy | Show results with:consultancy
[49]
Public Policy - InSight Crime
Deep analysis of public policies rolled out across Latin America and the Caribbean as governments seek to confront drug trafficking, improve citizen security, ...
[50]
[PDF] Unintended Consequences: How US Immigration Policy Foments ...
Specifically, it analyzes the ways in which Mexican organized crime groups have become involved in human smuggling as risks rose, prices surged, and migrants ...
[51]
Organized Crime Gains Strength Thanks to US Immigration Policy
Jul 7, 2023 · Our most recent investigation on how US immigration policy foments organized crime on the US-Mexico border has generated discussion across ...
[52]
InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan
Sep 15, 2023 · InSight Crime's work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government's recent National ...
[53]
InSight Crime Cited in OAS, CARICOM Reports
Apr 28, 2023 · InSight Crime's work was cited nine times in a new report by the Organization of American States (OAS) titled “The Impact of Organized Crime on Women, Girls ...
[54]
[PDF] Testimony by Steven Dudley, Co
May 26, 2016 · www.InSightCrime.org. Testimony by. Steven Dudley, Co-‐‑director, InSight Crime and. Fellow, Center for Latin American and Latino Studies ...
[55]
Training Tomorrow's Investigators - InSight Crime
Feb 25, 2022 · ... methodologies and how we conduct field investigations. Both projects contribute to InSight Crime's mission of not only interacting with ...
[56]
Tren de Aragua Clashes with Colombia's Underworld - InSight Crime
Aug 17, 2025 · Tren de Aragua was left controlling the Colombian side with no possibility of entering or doing business on the Venezuelan side, which remained ...Missing: cocaine trade
[57]
Separating Fact From Fiction With Tren de Aragua - InSight Crime
Aug 17, 2025 · There may be cases where Venezuelan criminals, perhaps affiliated to Tren de Aragua, have acted as hired muscle or subcontracted labor for drug ...Missing: trade | Show results with:trade
[58]
Colombian Authorities Expose Tren de Aragua's Drug Trafficking
Mar 22, 2024 · The arrest of a Tren de Aragua member in Colombia has exposed the group's large-scale drug trafficking intentions.Missing: cocaine | Show results with:cocaine
[59]
InSight Crime's 2024 Homicide Round-Up
Feb 26, 2025 · At least 121,695 people were murdered in Latin America and the Caribbean during 2024, putting the median homicide rate at around 20.2 per ...Missing: notable | Show results with:notable
[60]
The Decade-Long Evolution of Latin America's Homicide Rates
Apr 24, 2025 · InSight Crime highlights how criminal dynamics have shaped homicide rates in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last decade.
[61]
GameChangers 2023: Top 5 Criminal Newsmakers - InSight Crime
Jan 3, 2024 · According to InSight Crime's investigations, the remaining MS13 cells have lost much of their ability to control territory. While it is ...Missing: notable findings
[62]
GameChangers 2024: Networks Replace Cartels in Cocaine Trade
Jan 2, 2025 · Coca cultivation in Colombia, the main cocaine producer country, has been surging since 2020. Authorities nearly matched the amount of cocaine ...
[63]
US Drone Strike Highlights Sucre's Role in Venezuela's Cocaine ...
Oct 1, 2025 · InSight Crime's field reporting sheds light on Sucre's role in the drug trade and how it may shift following recent US attacks.
[64]
Year's Best 2023: Our Top 5 From the Field Investigations
How Precursor Chemicals Sustain Mexico's Synthetic Drug Trade ... In this investigation, InSight Crime breaks down the different stages of the supply chain for ...Missing: notable | Show results with:notable
[65]
Editor's Pick: 2021's Best Investigative Stories from Latin America
Dec 7, 2021 · In this deep-dive, multi-chapter investigation, InSight Crime and the Igarapé Institute mapped out environmental crime in the Amazon Basin in ...
[66]
InSight Crime - Bias and Credibility - Media Bias/Fact Check
Jan 14, 2024 · We rate InSight Crime as Left-Center Biased based on advocacy and editorial positions that align with a liberal left-leaning perspective.
[67]
InSight Crime's Favorite Fan Mail of 2017
Dec 22, 2017 · InSight Crime's Favorite Fan Mail of 2017. by Mike LaSusa 22 Dec 2017 ... Soros' Open Society Foundations.) jacksparrow. (“Stick to your ...
[68]
Elites and Organized Crime: Conceptual Framework
Mar 23, 2016 · Steven Dudley is the co-founder and co-director of InSight Crime and a senior research fellow at American University's Center for Latin ...
[69]
[PDF] Elites and Organized Crime: Introduction, Methodology, and ...
In our study, we are seeking to expand the notion of how organized crime works. We see it as something that is integrated into society, into the development of ...
[70]
PCC Investigation: Introduction and Major Findings - InSight Crime
Dec 11, 2020 · The project set out to evaluate, among other themes: – Transnational criminal organizations' networks and collaboration;Missing: flagship | Show results with:flagship
[71]
[PDF] Criminal Networks in the Americas | InSight Crime
This report is produced by CLALS, in collaboration with InSight Crime, as part of a project supported by the U.S. Department of.
[72]
[PDF] THE ROOTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME IN THE COLOMBIAN ...
They show a mix of increased governmental attention and action to combat environmental crime in recent years, mainly to reduce deforestation and illegal mining, ...
[73]
[PDF] El Salvador's (Perpetual) State of Emergency: How Bukele's ...
To conduct the research, InSight Crime formed a team comprising five investigators in El Salvador and Mexico, a project coordinator in Guatemala. City, and a ...<|separator|>
[74]
[PDF] The-Prison-System-in-Ecuador-History-and-Challenges-of-an ...
Security officials that spoke to InSight Crime in key areas such as Guayaquil and Esmeraldas described a surge in drug seizures and arrests. In the first ...
[75]
InSight Crime Investigations Drive Data Journalism
Apr 29, 2024 · This week, data from one of InSight Crime's flagship products, the 2023 Cocaine Seizure Round-Up, was featured in a data article by The ...
[76]
Brutal but Futile: Venezuela's Anti-Gang 'Mega-Operations'
Mar 2, 2023 · Venezuelan security forces carry out violent invasions of neighborhoods controlled by gangs, but there is little evidence of their success.
[77]
On the Radar: Crime Crackdowns Sweep LatAm
Sep 11, 2025 · We analyse the Cartel of the Suns and Tren de Aragua; a crackdown on the Border Command on Ecuador's border; and Haiti's anti-gang mission.
[78]
https://insightcrime.org/news/economic-considerations-influence-latam-anti-crime-policy/
[79]
GameChangers 2024: Organized Crime Gets Political - InSight Crime
Dec 30, 2024 · Criminal organizations showed this past year that they pose a growing threat to democracy in Latin America and the Caribbean.
[80]
Covid's Effects on Organized Crime in LatAm, 5 Years Later
Apr 8, 2025 · 1. Reshaped Drug Trafficking Routes and Supply Chains · 2. Accelerated Ecuador's Security Crisis · 3. Solidified Criminal Control Over Migrant ...
[81]
Organized Crime Blamed for Half of Latin America's Homicides
Dec 22, 2023 · (InSight Crime's 2022 homicide roundup reported the homicide rate as 12.2 per 100,000.) Most of the violence is related to fighting between ...
[82]
How US Policy Foments Organized Crime on US-Mexico Border
Today, human smuggling has transformed into one of the most lucrative industries for organized groups on the US-Mexico border.Missing: influence | Show results with:influence
[83]
GameChangers 2024: Crime Cashes in on Migration Boom
Dec 26, 2024 · “It's significantly safer if you're a migrant to be moved by the [AGC] than it is to be more or less on your own,” Yates told InSight Crime. “ ...
[84]
Crime Limits Growth in Latin America, Says World Bank
May 12, 2025 · A report from the World Bank brings a renewed focus to the impact of organized crime on economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean.