Worldcrunch
On five separate occasions, the U.S. Navy has sunk ships in the Caribbean accused of drug trafficking — yet no evidence has been presented. Acting without the approval of Congress or the backing of the international community, Donald Trump is pushing ahead. This return to power politics is causing alarm across Latin America.
Programs focused on fatherhood have recently been developed in prisons. Their goal: to reduce the risk of recidivism. But not all inmates benefit equally from these sometimes highly prescriptive lessons.
Cheap cocaine is flooding the European drug market, escalating conflicts in open drug scenes, everywhere except the historically drug-tolerant Zurich. A visit to this Swiss city — known as an open-air hotspot for crack and heroin in the 1990s — with a different approach for taking on drug addiction.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has specialized in getting gangsters and low-lives to undertake its terror operations abroad, making it more difficult to thwart its longstanding, and laughable, claim that it is a victim, not a sponsor of terrorism,.
A new generation of coca leaf growers and pickers is posting video content on social media. They show their life in the fields, how the crops grow, the laboratories where they create the coca paste, and even the exit routes for drug trafficking. And while they used to be stigmatized, and threatened by armed groups, their content is escaping censorship and violence.
Following the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov near Paris on Aug. 24, independent Russian-language media Important Stories looks into the claims Western authorities have made against Durov since the messaging application was launched in 2013, always keep its door open to the internet’s darkest corners.
The “Dubai Unlocked” investigation has revealed how criminals from around the world invested in the UAE to launder dirty money and escape authorities. The local authorities are often complicit in the scheme, an opportunity that has been exploited by the Camorra — as the Neapolitan mob is called.
The tragic death of two people inside the Neapolitan housing complex has thrown the spotlight back on a place that had transformed quickly from model city to a Camorra stronghold. Le Vele are now once again a model for other suburbs.
The former U.S. president and Republican nominee Donald Trump is threatening to revive his choice policies of curbing immigration and trade, and nobody would suffer as a result quite as much as the hundreds of millions of Latin Americans who may be forced to turn toward China and the Global South.
While the fentanyl epidemic has hit the U.S. the hardest, Italy is not immune. The drug has been circulating in the country for at least 10 years and is becoming more widespread due to a series of international factors. Some are sounding the alarm, but questions remain over how to address the problem.
The Pope has once again caused outrage because of a homophobic statement he made last week. This is far from being the first time the pontiff has sparked controversy for something he said — by mistake or otherwise.
Children and teenagers whose parents are in prison report depression, anxiety and a drop in school performance. New laws meant to protect them are not properly applied.
The crisis of gang violence in Ecuador is being driven by international drug trafficking, a major illicit economy that exists because of the ban on drugs. It and other Latin American countries are paying a high price for this unjust ban, and must unite to call for its end.
Some pastors are teaching the gospel in Johannesburg communities plagued by gang violence and murder, even trying to win the souls of gangsters and helping some to rehabilitate. But this makes them a target for rival gangs.
After the fall of the Sicilian Mafia boss of bosses Matteo Messina Denaro, it’s time for Cosa Nostra to rebuild, and they’ll be taking inspiration from their own past, but also must face the rising power of the ‘ndrangheta in the neighboring region of Calabria
June 12 – June 18, 2023
Iran is reacting mildly to recurring Taliban provocations on its frontier. Is this due to diplomatic weakness, policy incompetence or is there some murky complicity inside Iran with the Afghan drug trade?
Mexico and the United States must collaborate to tackle a dual problem of violence and drug use hurting their countries.But first, they must stop playing the blame game.
The Biden administration and Colombia’s new government seem to agree on the need for a new approach to drugs policy. But will they be able to find support in their countries to forge a new strategy?
The capture of Colombia’s most wanted drug trafficker shows that in spite of the cartels’ resilience, the state can and will fight crime at the highest levels, writes top Bogotá daily El Espectador.
A major bust last week of a Colombian-led narcotics ring deep in the Spanish Pyrenees led to the arrest of 12 people, the seizure of two kilograms of cocaine and the discovery of the laboratory where the drug was processed. Police say they discovered the traffickers while on the trail of the killer of a […]
In northwestern Laos, Chinese businesses dominate the Ton Pheung district, a special economic zone that has become a hub for all kinds of trafficking.
Authorities seized 701 kilograms of cocaine on a ship in the port of Oran. The record haul points to a growing network linking South America to Europe via Algeria.
Inside an elite unit of the Carabinieri military police using old and new tactics to track down fugitive leaders of the powerful ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate.
Open battles between major drug outfits are behind a series of recent killings at the National Autonomous University Of Mexico.
Differently than places like the Netherlands or the state of Colorado, legalizing cannabis in Mexico is colored by the presence of drug cartels — and the absence of the state.
MEXICO CITY — The Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, has long controlled the drug trade in nine states in Mexico’s south and west. But in recent months, the cartel has edged out Mexican and Colombian rivals to conquer the narcotics market in the U.S. Writing for Mexico City daily El Universal, investigative journalist Laura […]
TRUJILLO — The mayor of the northwestern Peruvian city of Piura was shot dead last week by a masked hitman as he left a restaurant, making him the latest victim in a wave of violence directed at Peru’s embattled local officials. Lima-based daily El Comercio reports that the death of Piura Mayor Ronald Javier Navarro […]
PARIS — The former head of France’s anti-drug trafficking agency has been accused of playing a central role in the smuggling of tons of cannabis into France, the Paris-based Libération daily is reporting. François Thierry, who until recently headed the main agency charged with combating drug trafficking OCRTIS (Central Office for the Suppression of Illicit […]
Tourism, mining and oil in this southernmost region of South America are financing a flourishing, multinational sex trade.
BEIRUT — An Italian diplomat once said that “the darkest corners of a crisis can be the most illuminating in understanding geopolitical dynamics.” This is where Lebanon finds itself: One of the few Middle Eastern countries that is not at war, yet one suffering in the trenches nonetheless. These days Lebanon is far from the […]
Jhon Jairo Velasquez Vásquez, known as “Popeye,” was the hitman-of-choice for the legendary drug kingpin. He’s out of jail now, and telling his side of the story.
-OpEd- GUATEMALA CITY – In Guatemala, we know about the damage done by gangs and drug traffickers. We see them paraded across the national and international media as the embodiement of “evil,” with their steely glares and tattooed arms. But too often, simply blaming the gangs and drug trade ignores the complex set of elements […]
LIMA — Why are more and more Mashco-Piro native Indians who have always lived in deep isolation in the Amazon jungle being spotted around inhabited areas? This question is worrying Peru as never-before-seen photographs of the tribe emerged in August. “We usually get a glimpse of them once a year, but their appearances have been […]
The arrest of a notorious Mexican mobster belonging to the Zetas cartel is a significant accomplishment for President Pena Nieto, but it won’t tame the bloodshed.
BOGOTA – Negotiators for rebel group FARC — engaged now in historic peace talks with the Colombian government — received an interesting visit in Havana last month. During a pause in negotiations with Bogota officials in the Cuban capital, FARC loyalists met with a group of former members of the IRA. Indeed, the veterans of […]