Criminal Organizations
Monday, August 1, 2016 - 15:06
Mexico's murder rate is getting significantly worse again, after a few years during which the killing had begun to fall off. According to official figures released this week, the number of murders in Mexico during the first half of this year was around 15 percent higher than in the same period of 2015.
Monday, August 1, 2016 - 15:06
Criminal groups and corrupt officials are the main beneficiaries of a US inspired shift in Mexico's policy that is endangering migrants, according to a new report, and the recent US decision to allow more Central American immigrants refugee status will do little to protect them from abuse south of the Rio Grande.
Monday, August 1, 2016 - 15:06
In 2010, as Brazil prepared to host the World Cup and Olympics, armed forces invaded the sprawling Complexo do Alemão group of favelas, or slums, which were controlled by drug gangs. The effort was part of a citywide police program known as “pacification.” But now, with the Olympiad fast approaching, those days feel very far away to favela resident Rene Silva.
Monday, August 1, 2016 - 15:06
The raids began before dawn. A thousand police fanned out across El Salvador’s wrinkled landscape, busting down doors at used-car lots, intercepting cross-country buses and surprising customers at a drive-in motel called the Three Aces. Authorities seized dozens of businesses, claiming they belonged to the Mara Salvatrucha, the country’s largest gang.
Monday, August 1, 2016 - 15:06
President Obama announced Friday that he will send a battalion of about 1,000 Army soldiers to Poland as part of a new NATO mission, an effort to deter any aggression by Moscow at Russia’s borders with Poland and the Baltic countries.
Thursday, July 7, 2016 - 07:22
Central America has long been a bridge that connects the producer countries in South America to the consumer nations in the north, principally the United States. This role has led to the development of several different types of criminal organizations, some of them transnational, some of them local, and many more of them hyper-local.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - 06:42
Growth of cocaine use in South America is outpacing any other region in the world and creating an emerging market boom for organized crime groups that are engaging in more cross-border cooperation aimed at making the most of growing local demand for the drug.
Friday, July 1, 2016 - 06:30
A Mexican judge has temporarily blocked the extradition to the U.S. of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexico's most powerful drug lord and one of the world's most notorious criminals.
Monday, June 27, 2016 - 06:55
A formidable combination of weak state institutions, powerful economic elites and high-level corruption has kept tax rates exceedingly low for Guatemala's wealthy, depriving the government of the resources needed to combat crime and reduce impunity.
Thursday, June 23, 2016 - 06:41
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Deputy Director Daniel Ragsdale told attendees at an anti-counterfeiting conference yesterday that identifying and preventing the theft of intellectual property (IP) and dismantling criminal organizations that engage in counterfeiting operations are major priorities for the agency.