The authorities of Trinidad and Tobago are considering the legalisation of cannabis. In late December, the government announced that the drug will be decriminalised in May or June 2019. To this, some groups of the society responded that only legal cultivation could prevent the violence linked to organised crime. In Colombia, criminal groups are taking…
The main findings of the Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2018 were discussed by the Executive Director of the UNODC and the Member States in Vienna on January 7, 2019. On January 7, the UN Secretary General met with the Guatemalan Foreign Minister at the UN headquarters in NY and he firmly rejected Guatemala’s…
In Costa Rica, 2018 ended with a seizure of nearly a tonne of cocaine at sea. The operation was conducted by the Costa Rican Coast Guard Service in the South Pacific area of the country, close to the Panamanian border. This brings the total seizures for 2018 to 33.5 tonnes. Jair Bolsonaro, who began his…
In Guatemala, an investigation shows the links between an influential pastor and a high-profile drug-trafficker to support the construction of a church. The concerned pastor and church denied the accusations. A legal expert suggests that Kenya include the Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) in the country’s criminal law. In other countries, the UWO has had some…
After numerous seizures during the month of November, the Venezuelan authorities reported an increase in drug flows coming from Colombia through the country’s coastal state of Anzoátegui. It seems that the region is also the centre of an air-trafficking network, sending drugs to the Caribbean, Honduras and Mexico. The dismantling of a network of ketamine…
Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, son of the Mexican drug lord “El Chapo” Guzmán, is reportedly in Medellín, Colombia under the protection of a criminal gang. He is allegedly controlling two laboratories in the city and coordinating the shipment of around 400 kg of cocaine per week to Mexico from the Colombian port of Buenaventura, highlighting the…
Mexican drug lord Héctor Beltrán Leyva died of a heart attack on November 19. He was the last of his brothers at the head of the Beltrán Leyva cartel before he was arrested and jailed in 2014. The cartel started by operating in the state of Sinaloa and it controlled some of the main smuggling…
The influence of the National Liberation Army (ELN), a Colombian armed group, is growing as the group reportedly operates on Venezuelan territory. Venezuela’s minister of defence raised criticisms towards the Colombian authorities, saying that they were not able to contain the threat of criminal groups and drug trafficking. Academics, researchers, and journalists, met on November…
14 people were arrested in San Matías, a Bolivian city located near the Brazilian border. The arrests took place during an operation conducted by the Bolivian security forces to take control over the city after they were chased from it in June. The city is described as a “crime hotspot” for both Brazilian and Bolivian…
A report by Euromonitor International shows that the illicit market of alcohol is a growing source of income for criminal organisation in Latin America. According to the report, the annual illegal sales of alcohol amount to $4.8 billion. Colombia Attorney General has proposed a new disruption policy to fight increasing drug production in the country,…
