Crime & Justice 2025-08-11
Eight dead in shooting outside Ecuador nightclub as wave of murders mount
With more than 4,051 murders in just five months, analysts warn it may be the deadliest start to a year in the nation's modern history.
Crime & Justice 2025-08-08
US raises bounty on Venezuela's Maduro to $50 million
Washington accuses the Venezuelan strongman of leading a global cocaine ring and endangering US security.
Crime & Justice 2025-08-07
FARC dissidents suspected in assassination attempt on Colombian presidential hopeful
The wounding of a presidential hopeful, a teenage gunman and a rebel group threaten to unravel Colombia's fragile peace and revive ghosts of its violent past.
Crime & Justice 2025-08-06
Ecuador's 'Fito' goes from drug lord to US defendant
Adolfo Macías is the first Ecuadorian extradited under a new law approved by referendum, marking a major step in the government's crackdown on powerful criminal gangs.
Crime & Justice 2025-07-21
Ecuador pool murders underscore most violent year in recent memory
As drug trafficking groups multiply, so does the bloodshed. The homicide rate in Ecuador rose from six per 100,000 residents in 2018 to 38 per 100,000 in 2024.
Crime & Justice 2025-04-29
Ecuador's internal war: the exploitation of child soldiers
In Ecuador, organized crime preys on girls, recruiting them into networks of sexual violence where criminal leaders treat them as property. Behind the surge in missing minors, a darker reality unfolds.
Crime & Justice 2025-04-28
From safe haven to hot spot: organized crime imperils Costa Rica's tourism economy
Costa Rica faces a troubling shift as organized crime fuels a surge in homicides and drug trafficking. Foreign cartels and local gangs have driven violence to historic levels.
Crime & Justice 2025-04-23
Caught in the crossfire: Indigenous residents along Colombia-Ecuador border face cartel violence
Indigenous communities on the Ecuador-Colombia frontier face escalating violence as criminal organizations tighten their grip, forcing youth into their ranks, turning villages into human shields and spreading fear across ancestral lands.
Crime & Justice 2025-04-14
Peruvian schoolchildren live in fear of extortion gangs
Hundreds of private schools in Peru have gone online as extortion surges, with gangs like Venezuela's Tren de Aragua accused of terrorizing towns.
Crime & Justice 2025-04-08
Seizure of illegally mined minerals shines light on links between FARC dissidents, China
Illegally mined coltan flows into international markets through opaque supply chains, making it nearly impossible to trace. Many shipments ultimately reach China, a major global processor of the mineral.