Venezuelan “socialism,” for those outside the country, conjures up images of empty supermarkets, a starving population, and hyperinflation. And there’s some truth to the image. Venezuela has fallen spectacularly from being the richest nation in Latin America into an unprecedented economic crisis that has seen millions flee the country. This collapse comes during the self-proclaimed “socialist” revolution spearheaded by Hugo Chávez two decades ago and continued by current President Nicolás Maduro

Jessica Ramírez shows me images of a recent ultrasound. Just before it was taken, she’d tried to illegally abort the foetus, but nearly died in the process. Eighteen-year-old Jessica, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, says that she was raped one night over Easter and realised she was pregnant several weeks later. “I didn’t want [the baby]… because it’s really hard, primarily because of the situation in the country.” In Venezuela, everyone speaks of the “situation” – a worse

There is “no supranational authority with the power … to enforce international law,” says Eric Schwartz, president of Refugees International. “International law is an imperfect instrument.” The country is party to international law on asylum-seekers, but has never passed a national law about them, and often treats the newcomers as illegal migrants. It’s a reminder of the disconnect asylum-seekers can face between international protections in theory, and in practice – particularly in such a tiny

Colombia’s presidential election, scheduled for May 27, comes at a critical time in the country’s history. The peace process with the FARC is underway, but new criminal dynamics are presenting challenges that the next president will have to face. Although every candidate has proposals to fight organized crime, the viability of some of their ideas is uncertain. InSight Crime analyzed the proposals of the five main presidential candidates on drug trafficking, criminal groups, security, justice an

Medellín, Colombia is a city of paradoxes. Its multifacted nature is showcased in a powerful new exhibition that tells a story of local resistance to decades of extreme violence. “The city of refuge. The city of hard work. The border city. The prison city.” A screen flickers between images of a vibrant metropolis climbing the slopes of a lush green valley, the steady opening and closing of a sturdy prison door, and the wringing hands of a man who spent many years behind it. The hands belong t

Colombia’s dense jungle on the Caribbean coast is the heartland of the Urabeños, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the Americas. This is where its top leaders are hiding, and it is also where the government is rebooting its largest-ever police operation to try, once again, to force them out. But so far the massive effort has failed to achieve its main objective: capturing Colombia’s most wanted criminal suspect. Flanked by the Panamanian border and the Caribbean Sea, the towe

Formerly the Western Hemisphere’s largest guerrilla organization, Colombia’s FARC has compiled a full inventory of their wealth following half a century of conflict and entrenchment in criminal activities. A front-by-front breakdown offers a remarkably detailed insight into the riches amassed by certain units and, perhaps more disturbingly, how much may be in the hands of increasingly powerful criminalized breakaways. Moreover, the inventory proves that the FARC leadership lacks full control ove

The Dominican Republic is boasting its lowest murder rates in years, but these figures could merely be concealing a larger threat from more sophisticated manifestations of organized crime. The Dominican Republic — and especially the capital province of Santo Domingo — has displayed a startling turnaround in crime levels in recent years. Santo Domingo province is seeing a 15-year low in homicides, with about 13 homicides registered for every 100,000 people, according to recent figures by the Att

Recent statistics from Bolivia provide mixed outlooks on how much cocaine the country is producing. InSight Crime takes a look at how the figures do not always reflect the facts. Cocaine seizures in Bolivia have shot up since 2013, reaching record figures this year. Between January and mid-August 2016, the police’s antinarcotics unit (Fuerza Especial de Lucha Contra el Narcotráfico – FELCN) registered 16.7 metric tons of cocaine hydrochloride (HCl) seized — already nearly double the total figur

Set foot in Colombia and it won’t be long before words such as “parce,” “chichipato” and “bacano” start to throw your schoolbook Spanish off-balance. To natives, these words are simply part of everyday language. Nevertheless, their origins aren’t quite as innocent as those unfamiliar with the story behind the slang might assume. In the words of the woman who has spent much of her academic career discovering, defining and ultimately giving a name to the phenomenon, parlache is “a social dialect