In the span of a single phone call, Trump apparently swung from wanting to attack Colombia to offering to cooperate on military actions against the ELN. Seems like Petro took a lesson from Sheinbaum.

Two record-breaking cocaine seizures in Europe hit the news today. 3 tons in Sweden and 10 tons en route from Brazil towards Spain. After three months of US boat bombings - 35 strikes, 123 people killed - drug trafficking hasn't stopped. It's just shifting routes.

More crucial work from our Venezuela team explaining the context around Maduro's arrest and what comes next: 5 Criminal Figures Who Helped Develop Venezuela’s System of Corruption insightcrime.org/news/5-crimina…

New World Economic Forum report polls 1,300 "decision-makers and thought leaders" on global risks. Crime ranks near the bottom, but that doesn't capture how it affects the stuff at the top of the list: armed conflict, climate change, polarization, erosion of human rights, cyber insecurity, etc.

I wrote more in this week's newsletter about the US increasingly using deadly force in the war on drugs. Not only is it costly - in human, political and financial terms - it's not even working. mailchi.mp/insightcrime.o…

The US arrest of Nicolás Maduro has shined an international spotlight on the system of corruption that’s been governing Venezuela for years. But Maduro didn’t build that system on his own. In this video, I look at five other figures who played key roles 👇

This is an absolutely wild story-behind-the-story from Jeff Ernst and David C. Adams. Do not miss it.

Trump's removal of immigration protections for Haitians, Venezuelans and Cubans could have adverse consequences for national security. He wants to send huge numbers of people back to these countries in crisis, which would likely further destabilize the US "back yard."

"Deterrence" logic may have delivered a blow to migrant smuggling networks, but it won't work against drug trafficking. In this week's newsletter, I explain why it’s rare that you can copy and paste a crime-fighting solution from one domain to another. mailchi.mp/insightcrime.o…

Colombia and Ecuador -- two of the most violent countries in the region -- need to cooperate to tackle organized crime. This kind of political gamesmanship doesn't solve security problems. It makes them worse. latinamericadailybriefing.substack.com/p/ecuador-pick…

It's nothing new for the US to cooperate with repressive regimes. What's interesting and maybe unique about Venezuela is that the US has backed the government, despite it being made up of people that the US itself has described as terrorists and criminals. nytimes.com/2026/01/24/wor…

New PAHO/WHO data shows big drop in murder rate for boys 15-17 in Latin America and Caribbean between 2018 and 2022, and a big increase in the murder rate for girls that age. Not much explanation in the report, but seems like something worth looking into further.

Soaring metal prices aren't just a boon for legit mining companies. Organized crime is also cashing in. And criminals aren't constrained by worker protections or environmental laws and regulations. Higher profits = bigger threat to people and places. ft.com/content/32ef3f…

#USA The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemns the arrests and extraordinary felony charges of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for their reporting on a protest in Minnesota, marking a serious escalation of attacks on the press in the United States. “As

Brazil’s PCC once cast itself as a defender of the poor. But as it’s grown from a prison gang into a global criminal powerhouse, it’s abandoning those communities and forging ties with Brazil’s economic and political elites insightcrime.org/news/as-brazil…

ICE's flouting of judicial checks and balances has gotten so bad that DOJ lawyers tasked with representing the government are expressing frustration - on the record, in open court - and saying they've never seen anything like it politico.com/news/2026/02/0…

My local police department Lakewood Police Dept. bought a $40,000 forensic camera called the "BlindSite Scene," made by a UK company called Smytec. No other US police use it, and I see little info beyond the company's marketing materials. Why choose this over established alternatives?

The biggest organized crime story this year will almost certainly be the aftermath of Maduro's arrest and how it will affect the so-called "Cartel of the Suns." I'll be joining my colleagues for a discussion panel about it on Feb 27. Sign up here: insightcrime.org/event/cocaine-…