Latin America

Venezuela Crime Profile: A Deep Dive into Criminal Networks, Security Forces, Prisons, and the Judicial System

Venezuela is a key transit country for drug shipments leaving Colombia for the United States and Europe. Foreign groups, particularly Colombians, have traditionally controlled Venezuela’s drug trade, attracted by poor rule of law and corruption. There is evidence, however, that beginning in the mid-2000s corrupt elements in the security … Read more

Panama Crime Profile: Criminal Groups, Security Forces, the Judicial System, and Prisons

Panama’s location connecting Central and South America has made it a key transit point for illicit trade, as well as a refuge and negotiating area for criminal organizations. Its favorable economy and the booming contraband market of the Colón Free Zone (CFZ) have long attracted international money launderers. The country’s weak judicial system and high … Read more

Costa Rica Crime Profile: Criminal Groups, Security Forces, the Judicial System, and Prisons

Costa Rica has traditionally been perceived as a bastion of security in crime-ravaged Central America. In recent years, however, the country has experienced record levels of violence, which authorities have blamed on its growing role as a drug transshipment point. Local crime groups are growing evermore sophisticated and resorting to lethal violence to secure … Read more

Mexico Crime Profile: Criminal Groups, Security Forces, Prisons, and the Judicial System

Mexico is home to some of the hemisphere’s largest, most sophisticated, and most violent organized criminal groups. These organizations have drawn from Mexico’s long history of smuggling and its proximity to the United States, the world’s largest economy, to grow into a regional threat. Their networks stretch from Argentina to Canada and even into Europe. They … Read more

Guatemala Crime Profile: Analyzing Criminal Groups, Security Forces, the Judicial System, and Prisons

Guatemala’s criminal organizations are among the most sophisticated in Central America. Some of them have been in operation for decades. They include former members of the military, intelligence agencies, active members of the police, public officials, and drug traffickers. In the political sphere, state-embedded corruption networks continue to tighten their grip on the political and … Read more

Chile’s Crime Profile: An In-Depth Look at Criminal Networks, Security Forces, Prisons, and the Justice System

Despite its proximity to cocaine-producing Andean countries, Chile has not suffered the negative effects of organized crime to the same extent as other nations in the region. In fact, it is one of the safest nations in Latin America. Since emerging from the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in 1990, Chile has enacted a series of key reforms that have helped build efficient security forces and an … Read more

Nicaragua Crime Profile: Examining Criminal Groups, Security Forces, the Judicial System, and Prisons

Nicaragua has long been one of the least violent countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Although some local gangs and at least one transnational criminal organization have a foothold there, so far the country has not experienced the high homicide rates common in its Central American neighbors. Nevertheless, traffickers have taken advantage of Nicaragua’s … Read more