News of drugs

Tainted fentanyl blamed for 87 hospital deaths

Yesterday 22:58 Contaminated drug scandal grows, authorities fear true number of deaths may be even higher; Casa Rosada orders recusal of judge leading case, citing conflict of interest.

Ecuador election 2025

Ecuador imposes state of emergency before razor-close election

12-04-2025 14:42 On the eve of a too-close-to-call presidential run-off and reacting a dramatic rise in drug-linked violence, Ecuador declares a state of emergency in seven of its 24 provinces, including the capital.

Death of Liam Payne

Death of Liam Payne: Court dismisses charges against trio

20-02-2025 20:37 An appeals court dismissed involuntary homicide charges against three people accused in the death of One Direction singer Liam Payne.

SIZEABLE BLACK ECONOMY

US$30 billion a year – Ecuador reveals size of local cartel trade

18-02-2025 14:44 Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa admits that cartels and gangs move US$30 billion worth of drugs, arms and other illicit goods through his country a year.

DRUG VIOLENCE

Narco violence tops agenda in Ecuador election

04-02-2025 10:25 Ecuadoreans vote Sunday for the country's next president as drug-related cartel and mafia violence run rampant. 'Iron fist' incumbent Daniel Noboa is up against Luisa González, a staunch defender of democracy.

Hidrovía Paraná-Paraguay

Paraná-Paraguay waterway a focal point for global security policy

10-01-2025 13:44 Ongoing tussle involving major dredging companies seeking to participate in Milei government's tender. Hidrovía Paraná-Paraguay is a naval highway for the trafficking of illicit drugs to the rest of the world.

CRIME & SECURITY

‘Narco-terrorists’ make death threats against security minister, governor

02-12-2024 16:18 Security Minister Patricia Bullrich vows to clamp down on “narco-terrorists” after threats against her and Santa Fe Province Governor Maximilaino Pullaro in video.

DEATH OF LIAM PAYNE

Initial test results confirm presence of cocaine in Liam Payne's body

21-10-2024 07:34 Initial test results sent to prosecutor leading case into late One Direction star's death reveal presence of cocaine in Liam Payne's body.

FOREIGN POLICY & DIPLOMACY

With Biden’s envoy in town, Argentina steps up efforts to tackle against synthetic drugs

16-10-2024 15:41 Foreign Minister Diana Mondino receives top US narcotics official Todd D. Robinson, as Security Minister Patricia Bullrich announces Argentina will set up a regional intelligence centre to combat synthetic drug trafficking.

by Cecilia Degl'Innocenti

DRUG-TRAFFICKING

‘Mochileros de la cocaína’ – Rising numbers of drug ‘mule’ backpackers

12-09-2024 13:00 Farm hands, manual labourers and local guides in the north of Argentina are being coopted by criminal organisations for the overland transfer of drugs across the frontier with Bolivia, crossing mountains and valleys without caring about the weather or the visibility.

by Leonardo Nieva

DRUG-TRAFFICKING

Cocaine ‘mules’ arrested in Jujuy with capsules hidden in bodies

12-09-2024 00:54 Bolivian nationals were transporting 323 capsules of cocaine hidden on their person, reports authorities.

FOREIGN POLICY & DIPLOMACY

'A mistake': Spanish minister backtracks on Milei 'substances' remark

07-05-2024 15:35 Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente says his suggestion that Javier Milei acted like he was on “substances” was an error and that he didn't foresee the repercussions.

FEATURE

Poverty, marginalisation, cocaine: Gangs find lucrative combo

30-03-2024 06:48 Argentina's economy is in intensive care. Financial stagnation, coupled with record inflation and the slashing of public spending have resulted in rising poverty and marginalisation. But in every crisis some see opportunity, and this time, it is crime groups. With drug-trafficking expanding in the barrios, analysts warn of new complex dynamics in the long run.

by Josefina Salomon*, In.Visibles

CRIME & SECURITY

Federal troops arrive in Rosario as drug violence, paralyses city

14-03-2024 21:53 After a week marked by a wave of violence, murder and drug-trafficking, 450 reinforcements arrive in troubled city, adding to the 2,000 members of the Coast Guard, Border Guard, Federal Police and Airport Security Force who are providing support.

CRIME & SECURITY

Santa Fe governor orders Bukele-style tactics for narcos in Rosario

11-03-2024 12:53 Santa Fe Province Governor Maximiliano Pullaro is angering narco bosses with his Bukele-style approach to tackling drug violence in dangerous Rosario.

WAR ON DRUGS

Petro: US anti-drug policies caused Latin American 'genocide'

01-03-2024 15:47 "We have lived through a genocide of a million Latin Americans in the last half-century," declares Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who points the finger at the United States.

ARMED ATTACK

Gunmen burst into Ecuador television studio live on air

09-01-2024 17:15 Armed men wearing balaclavas burst into studio of public television station in Ecuador's drug violence-torn port city of Guayaquil, taking hostage several journalists and staff members.

CRIME & SECURITY

Organised crime in Argentina: clans, crooked cops and money-laundering

04-09-2023 07:12 In Latin American countries such as Colombia, Mexico or El Salvador, criminal organisations have nearly taken control of their territories. Argentina, on the other hand, steers clear of that kind of violence, but that does not mean those groups do not have a presence here. Clans, money-laundering and complicity.

by Sabrina Chemen