Latinoamérica y el Caribe

Displaced by organized crime: unseen and forgotten

...ítico that, jointly with Insight Crime, have broadcasted the dreadful stories of those who have been uprooted by criminal groups. To date, there is no official record of the scale of this problem in Mexico. In international law, those displaced by gang violence within Mexico, would fall under the definition of “Internally displaced persons” (IDPs), the same as those displaced by conflict.  Acco...

Posted on 11 Dec 2014

Latinoamérica y el Caribe, RESPECT

Webinar: The New American Dream? Illicit migration, human trafficking and smuggling in the Americas

...ntially.  Under the Obama administration, the US has removed nearly 2 million people, and returned more than 1.6 million more, the highest of any Presidency.[2] Driven by desperation, people from Mexico and the Northern Triangle of Latin American states – Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador – have been trying to enter the USA in increasing numbers.  According to data provided by the US Customs ...

Posted on 25 Nov 2014

Protecting Politics

Public protests: Of Governments and Criminals…

... municipal police vehicles and disappeared into the night. While searchers around Iguala haven’t found the missing students, they have uncovered numerous mass-graves around the city, detritus of Mexico’s decade long DTO conflict. They have also uncovered links between the local police and civil administration in Iguala, and the local drug trafficking organization, Guerreros Unidos. The presumptio...

Posted on 04 Nov 2014

Development Dialogue

Analyzing Organized Crime – October 2014

...social media has been brought to the fore in the most negative way possible in recent weeks, with terrorist groups recruiting and showcasing their brutal victories on twitter, and a criminal group in Mexico murdering a citizen journalist who used Facebook to report gang movements and human rights offenses.  As our blog  “Social networks, the showcase of organized crime” demonstrates, what once wer...

Posted on 26 Oct 2014

Development Dialogue, UN-TOC Watch

The future of UNTOC? Does un-reviewed equate to irrelevant?

...in working groups, the resolution to create one at the last Conference of the Parties in 2012 failed to pass. Similarly at this COP, the draft resolution that was tabled by Austria, France, Italy and Mexico to strengthen the implementation of UNTOC was left on the shelf. Whereas in 2012 the proposal stumbled on the issue of the perceived cost of such a mechanism, and the debates continued long into the ...

Posted on 22 Oct 2014

Crime & Conflict, Development Dialogue, Latinoamérica y el Caribe

How does your garden grow? The Tuxtla Gutiérrez Cocaine Experiment

...ted to a series of arrests in the nearby city of Tapachula, which involved the seizure of 180 kilos of coca leaf—the organic precursor for cocaine. The plantation in Tuxtla Gutiérrez is reportedly Mexico’s first evidence of coca growing in the country, and presents key questions: why in Mexico, why now, and where is this likely to lead? The modern cocaine business is rooted in coca growth in Sou...

Posted on 23 Sep 2014

Latinoamérica y el Caribe, Protecting Politics, Resilience Fund

Social Networks: the showcase of organised crime

...e, there are Twitter profiles of presumed sons of Joaquín Guzman Loera, a.k.a. El Chapo, the now convicted  leader of the Sinaloa Cartel and considered one of the most important drug traffickers in Mexico and worldwide.  El Chapo’s suspected sons belong to this new generation which, contrary to the low profile style of their predecessors, like to flaunt their wealth and notoriety.  An example of t...

Posted on 11 Sep 2014

Development Dialogue, Protecting Politics

Improving development responses to organized crime

Improving Development Responses to Organized Crime

...brought together 50 experts from national governments, multi-lateral organizations, think tanks and NGOs working in the development sector.   Governments represented were Austria, Denmark, Germany, Mexico, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union. The objective of the meeting was to serve as a platform to better understand and assess...

Posted on 27 Aug 2014

Latinoamérica y el Caribe, RESPECT

Cuban baseball players: a home run for migrant smugglers

...n suspicion of a player’s intent to defect is sufficient for punishment. Faced with few other choices, baseball players often turn to smugglers plying the well-traveled routes from Cuba to Florida, Mexico, or other Caribbean islands. As a general rule, an average Cuban can buy passage on a smuggler’s boat for US$10,000. Baseball players, however, represent potentially far greater rewards, and theref...

Posted on 26 Aug 2014

Development Dialogue, Latinoamérica y el Caribe

Petrol smuggling: oiling the wheels of organized crime

...t. For most smugglers, their petrol comes straight from the pump at a local service station.  For some the product is procured directly from wholesalers, while in other places —notably Nigeria and Mexico—the petrol is stolen in bulk from pipelines. The sale of the petrol is as easy, either sold at the roadside, or fenced through unscrupulous service station owners. While smuggled petrol usually sta...

Posted on 14 Aug 2014

Latinoamérica y el Caribe, Private Sector, Protecting Politics, Resilience Fund

Dangerbeat: Journalists under fire for investigating organized crime

...rica is the most dangerous part of the world for journalists working this beat. In Latin America and the Caribbean, a total of 10 journalists were killed this year so far – four in Brazil, three in Mexico, one each in Columbia, Panama and Honduras. And last year, from January to August, at least 19 journalists from that part of the world were taken out, according to the Latin American Journalists Fede...

Posted on 25 Jul 2014

Global Initiative

Índice de Paz Global: midiendo la paz y las costos de la violencia en el mundo

...e last report in 2013, with Jamaica and Nicaragua leading this trend, this region is still presented as problematic on account of its high homicide and violent crime rates. Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico - where damages caused by the war against drugs waged by former administrations are still evident - received the lowest scores among Latin American countries. The index also shows improvements in Arg...

Posted on 02 Jul 2014