Faces of Assassination

Underworlds with Mark Shaw is returning for another season. Mark sits down with authors to discuss their investigations into the murky world of organized crime. In season two, we hear about a range of stories such as money laundering and cryptocurrency; the 'Ndrangheta's expansion from Calabria, Italy to other countries of Europe. Also the story of a leading South African police officer, who was t...

Javier Valdez was an award-winning Mexican journalist at Ríodoce   in Culiacán, Sinaloa. For years he bravely covered the issue of drug trafficking, and for that he was murdered. Javier Valdez Profile Watch: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) International Press Freedom Award 2011 speech in full. If you would like to explore other profiles on our dedicated website - assassination.glob...

It's an election year in Mexico and according to the government at least 64 Mexican politicians have been murdered in the past six months. Yet this phenomenon is not exclusive to Mexico - In Italy, 134 politicians were killed between 1974 and 2014. In Colombia, in 2019, seven political candidates were murdered. And in Uganda, 54 people were murdered in November 2020 during an election campaign. Th...

Born and bred in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Marielle Franco was a passionate politician - fighting against rampant police violence in the favelas she called home. Marielle represented communities who are often marginalized from politics, threatening the established system. For that she was likely killed. Marielle Franco Profile If you would like to explore other profiles on our dedicated websi...

Thousands of Elephants are killed each year in Africa by poachers. The thin red line between these animals and extinction is the scores of brave men and women who risk their lives to protect them. One of those brave individuals was a South African called Wayne Lotter – a conservationist and the co-founder of the PAMS Foundation. This is his story. Wayne Lotter's profile. If you would like to explo...

In this episode, we will be hearing about how the illegal wildlife trade, which is worth billions of dollars annually, is driven by demand in Asia and serviced by well-organized transnational criminal networks. But we will also hear about the dangers, threats and sometime murders that conservationist and environmental defenders suffer at the hands of these same criminal networks. Presenter : Ana P...

In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed. It was hoped, would usher in a new age where the fundamental rights of every individual are universally protected. To protect and respect those rights such as freedom of expression, protection of the environment, gender equality and women’s rights, human rights defenders play a crucial role. But because they defend these fundamental ri...

In this special episode of Faces of Assassination, Ana Paula speaks to international human rights lawyer and scholar Roxanna Altholz . Roxanna was part of the international investigation into the murder of the indigenous environmentalist campaigner, Berta Cáceres in Honduras in 2016. Presenter: Ana Paula Oliveira, Analyst, Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime Profile discussed:...

Edwin Gregorio Dagua Ipia was just 28 when he was gunned down in the afternoon in the Huellas indigenous reserve in the Cauca region of south-west Colombia. Dagua was killed by FARC dissidents for speaking out against armed groups, coca cultivation and illegal mining. Dagua was the 25th indigenous leader to be killed in 2018. Edwin Gregorio Dagua Ipia profile. If you would like to explore other pr...

What happens when a prominent individual like Ján Kuciak or Daphne Caruana Galizia are murdered and those involved are at the very highest levels of society? How do law enforcement go about investigating such high-profile murder cases? And how do you catch the mastermind? Presenter : Siria Gastelum Felix , the Emmy Award-winning Journalist and Director of the Resilience Fund at the Global Initiati...

Ján Kuciak wasn't a revolutionary type of person - he was mild mannered with a peaceful personality but despite this he stood out as a rare Investigative journalist. He was investigating the influence of the Italian mafia in Slovakia, in particular the Italian ’Ndrangheta, and their possible links to the then Slovakian Prime Minister . On February 21st, 2018, Ján and his fiancée, Martina Kušnírová...

In this special episode Siria Gastelum Felix speaks with Bertha Zúñiga, the daughter of the murdered environmentalist and indigenous rights campaigner Berta Cáceres. We discuss her mothers life as an activist, for which she received international recognition, the issues she fought for and against, and finally how her murder changed Honduras. This interview is also available in Spanish . Presenter...

En este episodio especial Siria Gastelum Félix habla con Bertha Zúñiga, la hija de Berta Cáceres quien fue asesinada por ser ambientalista y defensora de los derechos de los indígenas. Analizamos la vida de su madre como activista por la que recibió reconocimiento internacional, hablamos de las causas por las que luchó y finalmente de cómo su asesinato cambió Honduras. Esta entrevista también...

Berta Cáceres led the indigenous Lenca community in Río Blanco in the fight against the Agua Zarca Dam. Her success led to international recognition as she was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015. But Berta's success also led to years of harassment, death threats, and attempts on Berta's life. On 2nd March 2016, two gunmen broke into her house in La Esperanza, Honduras, and murdered he...

The battle to protect the environment from systemic destruction by predatory industries and organized crime has raged for generations. And there are those for who protecting biodiversity or ancestral lands has been a life’s work – they are called environmental defenders.  But this fight can lead to accusations of acting on behalf of hostile foreign interests, social stigma, prison, physical v...

In the Malaysian state of Sarawak, land-related tussles between local communities and large companies have been going on for decades. Stories of harassment, violence and intimidation are not new, but no one ever thought it could cost someone their life. That is until the morning of 21 June 2016, when local activist Bill Kayong was shot dead at an intersection while on his way to work. See oth...

The life of a mediator is complicated and often very dangerous, they find themselves placed between two sides that are fundamentally opposed to one another, with the difficult task of finding common ground in which to build a compromise and forge a new relationship without conflict. In the podcast today we’re going to be discussing the role of mediators, the particular role of women in mediation,...

This is the Faces of Assassination Podcast from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime . On the 15th of June 2020, the GI launched the Assassination Witness campaign to stamp out criminal organisations worldwide and seek justice for victims across the globe. Over the coming months we will mark the anniversaries of those who gave their lives fighting organized crime in their co...

On this episode of Faces of Assassination, Siria Gastelum Felix will be discussing the assassination of journalists. 625 journalists over the past 20 years that have been murdered for their reporting and investigations into organized crime and corruption. Why do journalists find themselves at risk; what has been done to combat it; and what needs to be done to protect this valuable component of fre...

On the 16th January 2019, the investigative journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela was assassinated by two gunmen on the streets of Accra in Ghana. This is his story. Ahmed Divela, Faces of Assassination profile