Audio | InSight Crime

On March 6, about 20 armed members of the Tiguerones criminal group lurked in the hills on the outskirts of Guayaquil, Ecuador’s port hub and largest city. They had a clear goal: to take out their enemies, who were also, technically, Tiguerones. In the early afternoon, the assassins broke into local homes, shooting dead their targets at close range. They chased others through the streets, wreaking...

El 6 de marzo, unos 20 hombres armados del grupo criminal los Tiguerones acecharon las colinas de los alrededores de Guayaquil, el principal puerto y la ciudad más grande de Ecuador. Su objetivo era claro: eliminar a sus enemigos, que también eran, técnicamente, Tiguerones. En horas de la tarde, los sicarios irrumpieron en varias viviendas y ejecutaron a sus objetivos a quemarropa. A otros los per...

One morning in September 2024, Ana Rosa Sánchez* arrived early to begin her morning routine at a seafood restaurant in Altata, a small fishing village in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa. But as she awaited her first clients, her phone started buzzing. Culiacán had erupted into chaos with reports of gunfights, killings, and arson attacks. Without thinking twice, Sánchez closed the metal doors to...

Una mañana de septiembre, Ana Rosa Sánchez* llegó temprano a su restaurante de mariscos en Altata, un pueblo costero del estado de Sinaloa, para iniciar su rutina habitual. Mientras esperaba a los primeros clientes, revisó las noticias en su teléfono celular: Culiacán ardía entre balaceras, muertos e incendios. Sin pensarlo, bajó la cortina metálica y aseguró la entrada con candados. No volvió a a...

My name is Stephen Dudley, and I'm the co-director of InSight Crime. Over the years, I've done numerous reports about presidential candidates and presidents themselves doing nefarious things. These are some of the most difficult reports you can do, because you really have to have things nailed down tight, solid sourcing numerous sources, corroboration. You know what they say; you aim at th...

Me llamo Stephen Dudley y soy codirector de InSight Crime. A lo largo de los años, he realizado numerosos reportajes sobre candidatos presidenciales y sobre los propios presidentes haciendo cosas nefastas. Estos son algunos de los informes más difíciles que se pueden hacer, porque realmente hay que tener las cosas bien claras, fuentes sólidas y numerosas, corroboración. Ya sabes lo que dicen: si a...

Cerca de la orilla del Río Nechí, uno de los principales epicentros de la minería ilegal de oro en el norte de Colombia, Javier*, un líder social con voz pausada y contundente relató a InSight Crime las dificultades del conflicto que ha traído la más reciente ola de violencia en El Bagre, un municipio de la subregión del Bajo Cauca, en Antioquia. “Hace unos meses los enfrentamientos eran tan fuert...

A group of armed men stormed into a drug rehab facility in the city of Culiacán, Mexico, at around 2:00 in the morning on April 7, and rounded up the 20 or so individuals living there. The director of the center, which is located on a quiet residential street near a scenic overlook and a Catholic church, tried to reason with them. “We are people of God,” he pleaded. It did not matter. The attacker...

Cerca de las 2 horas de la mañana del 7 de abril, un grupo de hombres armados irrumpió en un centro de rehabilitación de drogas en la ciudad de Culiacán, México, y reunió a las 20 personas que vivían allí. El director del centro, ubicado en una tranquila calle residencial cerca de un mirador y una iglesia católica, intentó razonar con ellos. “Somos gente de Dios”, suplicó. No sirvió de nada. Los a...

Cinco años después del inicio de la pandemia de COVID-19, el crimen organizado adoptó nuevas estrategias y fortaleció su control sobre los territorios y las economías ilícitas en América Latina y el Caribe. Las cadenas de suministro del narcotráfico han cambiado, los grupos criminales han aprovechado la falta de oportunidades económicas para reclutar nuevos miembros, y la combinación de insegurida...

Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean has adopted new strategies and strengthened control over territories and illicit economies. Drug trafficking supply chains have shifted, criminal syndicates have capitalized on the lack of economic opportunities to recruit new members, and insecurity combined with economic crises has sparked a massive...

Two weeks ago, we published what was supposed to be the final episode of The Shadow of El Dorado, our podcast series exploring the story of Segovia, a small mining town in Colombia tainted by blood gold. But while we were publishing the series, one of the people we had followed throughout our investigation, Jaime Gallego, was abducted, tortured, and murdered. As one of the leaders of the mesa mine...

El descubrimiento de un campo de exterminio y trabajo forzado del Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) ha generado luto nacional en México y evidencia las crueles tácticas del grupo criminal para reclutar miembros. El 24 de marzo, el secretario de Seguridad Ciudadana de México, Omar García Harfuch, anunció durante una conferencia de prensa que las autoridades habían detenido a alias “El Comandan...

The Trump administration’s decision to return a high-profile gang boss facing terrorism charges to El Salvador as part of a controversial effort to deport hundreds of Venezuelan citizens could signal the US government’s willingness to compromise its longstanding MS13 crackdown in favor of mass deportation. César Humberto López Larios, alias “Greñas,” a veteran leader of the MS13 street gang, was f...

We head back to Segovia after several years away. Has the town been able to escape the blood gold cycle?  ____ This is the final episode of the series. If you’d like to explore past episodes, dive deeper into our investigation through related videos, interviews, documents, and photos, be sure to visit the  podcast page . If you've already listened to the full series, we’d love to hear your tho...

Tensions between informal miners and the Canadian multinational that is the legal owner of the town’s gold have been building ever since we first arrived in Segovia. And now that conflict is reaching breaking point. __ Listen to the full series and explore additional content from the investigation here

Segovia goes into lockdown when a new gold war begins as Colombia’s broader conflict enters a new chapter. But is this an existential battle between legal and illegal, or is that just wartime propaganda? __ This series follows reporters James Bargent and Mat Charles as they head to the Colombian town of Segovia, in search of the blood gold that contaminates global supply chains and ends up in the...

Global capitalism marches into town, pledging to save Segovia from itself. But what – or who – lies behind the promises of a new era of stability and prosperity for all?  ___ This series is the product of 10 years of investigative work in one of the most dangerous corners of Colombia. This work is not only risky, it is also expensive. But we believe it is important. If you would like to help InSig...

The Frontino story leads us right back to them – the paramilitary groups that have lurked in the shadows of Segovia for generations – and our definition of blood gold begins to expand as the line between legal and illegal fades away.  _ The Shadow of El Dorado is not just a podcast. We also have some incredible additional content, which will take you right into the thick of the action, and allow y...

Our blood gold investigation takes an unexpected turn as we dive into the story of Frontino Gold Mines, a decades-old mystery that could hold the key to understanding how Segovia became the mafia town we see today. __ The Shadow of El Dorado is not just a podcast, we also have some incredible additional content to explore. Visit the podcast page to see videos, photos, interviews, and to follow the...

Our search for Colombia’s blood gold takes us to Segovia and the illegal mines at the very beginning of the global supply chain. But what we find there is a strange mirror world, where conventional narratives fall apart, and the names and labels we try to apply do not make sense. __ The Shadow of El Dorado is not just a podcast, we also have some incredible additional content to explore. Visit the...

In this episode, we dive into the 2025 presidential elections in Ecuador, a country that was once the envy of Latin America for its stability and safety. On February 9, voters went to the polls, and now, incumbent Daniel Noboa and challenger Luisa González are headed for a crucial second-round vote in April. But this election is taking place amid a severe security crisis. Formerly known for its lo...

La relación del gobierno venezolano con el Tren de Aragua ha sido objeto de escrutinio tras las acusaciones de que el ministro del Interior pudo estar detrás de un complot para contratar a la banda para llevar a cabo un asesinato político en Chile. Las autoridades chilenas buscan la extradición de varios presuntos miembros del Tren de Aragua acusados de secuestrar y asesinar al exmilitar venezolan...

Apenas dos semanas después de tomar posesión, el presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, dio un ultimátum a los gobiernos de Canadá, China y México. Si no intensificaban sus esfuerzos para interrumpir el flujo de drogas sintéticas y migración irregular hacia Estados Unidos, el gobierno impondría nuevos aranceles a casi todos los bienes importados de esos países. Por qué los aranceles estadouni...

Just two weeks after taking office, US President Donald Trump gave the governments of Canada, China, and Mexico an ultimatum. If they did not step up efforts to disrupt the flow of synthetic drugs and irregular migration into the United States, the government would impose new tariffs on nearly all goods imported from those countries. Why Trump’s Tariffs Won’t Slow the Flow of Migrants or Fentanyl...