- 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 routes between Mexico and the U.S.
- Criminal groups called “colectivos” are spreading across 16 states of Venezuela including in the country’s main mining state, Bolívar. Originally, these groups were granted the support of local businessmen who would contract them as private security against thieves. However, the colectivos are now involved in criminal activity.
- Peruvian authorities charged former Police Chief , accused for being at the head of a baby trafficking network. The suspect was arrested at the beginning of the month following an investigation that uncovered his involvement in the corruption of clinic workers to organise his criminal network.
- In Mexico, the state-owned oil company PEMEX is training and arming security staff to constrain the illegal drilling of pipelines and oil robberies. In January, the company’s security chief was murdered in the state of Guanajuato.
