On #InternationalWomensDay, we reflect on how women shape InSight Crime’s coverage of organized crime across Latin America — from leading field investigations to challenging dominant narratives. Read more: https://bit.ly/4udKwe3
🇲🇽 | With El Mencho at the helm, the CJNG became a key player in the cocaine trade in Mexico and around the region. What will his death mean for countries like Colombia, Ecuador, and Guatemala? We explore this question here: https://bit.ly/4sg0vqa
InSight Crime is searching for curious, analytical, and driven interns ready to dive into investigative journalism and research on organized crime in the Americas. Apply here for the Summer 2026 internships!
🔍 Editorial: https://bit.ly/4oRXf2t
📝 Research: https://bit.ly/49DlWLI
Understanding organized crime means moving beyond stereotypes and recognizing that women have long been part of the networks that sustain criminal economies in the region. Read more:
Figures like Marllory Chacón Rossell, Guadalupe Fernández Valencia, and Antonella Marchant illustrate the diverse roles women have played in criminal groups across Latin America.
Across the region, women appear at every level of organized crime — from transporters and money launderers to leaders of trafficking structures. Their presence is not new, but has been underreported.
Her family was deeply embedded in the CJNG’s creation. Her brothers allegedly ran the group’s financial arm, known as Los Cuinis, handling money laundering and financial operations.
Take Rosalinda González Valencia, the wife of slain CJNG leader “El Mencho.” She has reportedly been involved in the drug business longer than him — and may remain a key player in the group’s financial structure.
👉 Women have been involved in the drug trade between Latin America and the United States since the 1940s and 1950s — as financiers, traffickers, brokers, and logistical operators. Yet their roles are often overlooked.
On #InternationalWomensDay, we're asking what role women really play in Latin America’s organized crime. Far from being just victims or accessories to crime, women have long held key roles in criminal networks 🧵
🇲🇽 | Several criminal networks operate in Guadalajara, but the CJNG has established a deep system of control that allowed it to coordinate major disruption following El Mencho's death. Read our analysis: https://bit.ly/3MRUlO2
📍 Homicide trends in 2025 revealed the mixed effects of hard-line security policies in Latin America and the Caribbean. Analyzing regional data, our experts will present key shifts and potential risks in 2026 in an exclusive event for donors on March 26. Donate to join: https://bit.ly/4bqOVTr
👉 From Guatemala to Chile, women have helped shape major criminal networks across Latin America. Our latest analysis explores their hidden roles in organized crime ahead of #InternationalWomensDay
🇲🇽 | Beyond the CJNG's immediate reaction to El Mencho's death, another central question is how the group's territorial control might be reconfigured. We examine five strategic enclaves: https://bit.ly/4rDkr6q
🇨🇴🇻🇪With the ELN’s takeover of Catatumbo and an ongoing dispute with the Segunda Marquetalia over control of illicit mining revenues in the south, the Colombia–Venezuela border has become a laboratory of drugs and war. Read more👉
🇲🇽 | A year after first uncovering the so-called Rancho Izaguirre in Teuchitlán, Jalisco, Mexican authorities confirmed the CJNG used the site to train recruits, many of whom were forced into their ranks. Read more here.
🇲🇽 | The CJNG's tendency to recruit former security personnel, as well as its aggressive expansion across Mexico, warrants comparison to the now-defunct Zetas. It's unlikely the CJNG will disappear after El Mencho's killing, but what does its future look like? Find out more: https://bit.ly/3MtFR6W
Do you love working with data? InSight Crime is looking for curious, analytical, and motivated interns to support its Monitoring and Data Analysis (MAD) Unit!
👉 Learn more and apply here for the Summer 2026 internship: https://bit.ly/4nG0YPC
🇺🇸 | The United States and several countries from Latin America and the Caribbean signed a cooperation agreement to confront drug trafficking in the region as US President Donald Trump has intensified the fight against organized crime. Read about its possible impact here.
📍 Each year, InSight Crime analyzes homicide rates across Latin America and the Caribbean. What were the main trends in 2025? Donate and join our March 26 event to learn more about regional drivers of violence: https://bit.ly/4bqOVTr
👉For now, the US focus on Venezuela has disrupted the usual drug flows through the country and the Caribbean—but what could happen if circumstances change? We analyze the future of drug trafficking in Venezuela here: https://bit.ly/4lvIn9T
🇲🇽 | Mexican criminal groups are using video games to invite minors to join their ranks. This trend is spreading across several countries in the region, where video games and social media are used for forced recruitment: https://bit.ly/4ljaIhQ
🇪🇨 | In a canal running through a dense mangrove forest on Ecuador’s coast, soldiers made a surprising discovery: a narco sub loaded with 6,000 gallons of fuel. Read more about what’s behind this seizure and other similar ones around the region: https://bit.ly/4d1aYBo
🇲🇽 | Clashes with Los Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel shaped the CJNG’s expansion. Can the cartel maintain its criminal dominance without El Mencho? Discover the group’s full trajectory here: https://bit.ly/4dgdws6
🇪🇨 🐺 | The Lobos have close ties to the international drug trade, working with Albanian mafia groups and Mexico’s CJNG to move cocaine through Ecuador to consumer markets in North America and Europe. But where did this group originate? More here.
🇧🇷 | Brazil’s Port of Santos is the busiest in Latin America, accounting for one-third of the country's economy. But this also attracts the attention of criminal groups in the cocaine trafficking business. Read our analysis to learn more: https://bit.ly/4l5BwDL
🇲🇽 | The tentacles of the CJNG extend beyond Mexico’s borders into countries like Guatemala, Colombia, and Ecuador, where emissaries of the group have for years negotiated cocaine deals. What happens now that the CJNG has lost its leader?: https://bit.ly/4sg0vqa
☀️The relationships Maduro cultivated with Colombian guerrilla groups did not disappear with his removal. Multiple groups, such as the ELN, remain in Venezuelan territory and maintain ties to government structures. We examine their criminal track record here: https://bit.ly/4uruNbA
🇪🇨 | A 35-meter semi-submersible vessel, presumably used to traffic drugs, was seized on Ecuador’s Pacific coast. Discoveries of these vessels in Ecuador are more rare than in Colombia. Here is all you need to know about narco subs: https://bit.ly/4d1aYBo
