February 15, 2018 - Report published by IBI Consultants
Following decades of hardship, the Castro regime now carries more influence in Latin America than during the Cold War. The fusion of its revolutionary ideology with Chavez’s Bolivarian Revolution has created a political/criminal enterprise that has reshaped Latin America. Topics include ALBA, BJCE, criminalized states, Cuba, drug trafficking, FARC, Hezbollah, money laundering, and Venezuela.
September 14, 2017 - Journal Article published by Perry Center Occasional Paper, NDU
A report on MS-13's rapid evolution into a criminal/economic/military/political power that poses an existential threat to the states of El Salvador and Honduras through growing ties to Mexican drug cartels and an ever-greater role in cocaine transportation networks. Topics include drug trafficking, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and MS-13.
September 12, 2017 - Testimony before the U.S. Senate
Testimony before the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, discussing the ongoing peace process between the Colombian government and FARC, and its impact on transnational organized crime and regional security threats. Topics include ALBA, BJCE, Colombia, criminalized states, drug trafficking, FARC, money laundering, and Venezuela.
June 27, 2017 - Report published by American Enterprise Institute (AIE)
IBI contributed multiple chapters to this report produced by AEI Working Group on Transnational Organized Crime in the Americas, which traces the rise of transnational criminal organizations in the Americas and their role in a wide variety of security threats. Topics include ALBA, BJCE, Colombia, criminalized states, drug trafficking, El Salvador, FARC, Guatemala, Hezbollah, Honduras, illicit finance, Mexico, money laundering, transnational organized crime, and Venezuela.
March 15, 2017 - Report published by Center for a Secure Free Society Global Dispatch
This report examines how the government of Desi Bouterse in Surinace became a vertically integrated criminal structure, serving as a safe-space for TOC and embedding criminals in state organs. It also looks at the Bouterse government’s involvement in the gold trade. Topics include BJCE, criminalized states, gold trafficking, illicit financing, money laundering, and Suriname.
February 1, 2017 - Book Chapter published by Rand Corporation
The chapter IBI contributed to the book Counternetwork: Countering the Expansion of Transnational Criminal Networks discusses the ability of TCNs in Central America to co-opt or influence local and national power structures, and the resulting threat to U.S. security. Topics include Central America, Colombia, criminalized states, drug trafficking, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, illicit financing, Mexico, and money laundering.
December 8, 2016 - Article published by Small Wars Journal
In this report, Douglas Farah examines the illicit Colombian emerald trade in the context of the Colombian peace agreement and FARC demobilization, and the essential security threat it poses. Topics include Colombia, demobilization, FARC, gem trafficking, money laundering, and transnational organized crime.
October 25, 2016 - Book Chapter published by Center for Complex Operations, NDU
"Convergence in Criminalized States: A New Paradigm," a chapter in the new book "Beyond Convergence," just published by the Center for Complex Operations at National Defense University. Topics include ALBA, BJCE, China, criminalized states, FARC, Latin America, money laundering, Russia, and transnational organized crime.
