Guatemala Blocks Reelection of Internationally Sanctioned Top Prosecutor The exclusion of the heavily sanctioned attorney general marks the end of a tenure that devastated Guatemala's justice system, but watchdogs warn of last-minute retaliation before she leaves office in...

www.occrp.org/en/news/guat...

Inside the Aluminum Supply Chain Linking Irish Industry to Russian Rockets Leaked transaction data reveals how a major refinery in Ireland feeds into the aluminum supply chain of Russian weapons manufacturers arming Putin’s forces as they attack Ukraine.

Leaked transaction data reveals how a major refinery in Ireland feeds into the aluminum supply chain of Russian weapons manufacturers arming Putin’s forces as they attack Ukraine.

www.occrp.org/en/investiga...

Fear is the Message: How the Jalisco New Generation Cartel Weaponized Algorithms to Paralyze Mexico In the hours after Mexican drug lord "El Mencho’s" killing by the military, his Jalisco New Generation Cartel responded by deploying hundreds of roadblocks, torching banks and supermarkets — and…

The killing of CJNG leader “El Mencho” unleashed chaos across Mexico—but not all of it was real. This piece details how the cartel used a mix of real violence and AI-fueled disinformation to amplify terror nationwide.

By @evodzoni.bsky.social & @liliasaul.bsky.social in @occrp.org

buff.ly/PnynJIs

Lots of intel in this from mis compas @evodzoni.bsky.social & @liliasaul.bsky.social 👇

Great reporting on the combo of real attacks and fake images after the death of “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes. 👇

(I’m quoted in this, but you could take everything I say out and it’d still be great reporting.)

Fear is the Message: How the Jalisco New Generation Cartel Weaponized Algorithms to Paralyze Mexico In the hours after Mexican drug lord "El Mencho’s" killing by the military, his Jalisco New Generation Cartel responded by deploying hundreds of roadblocks, torching banks and supermarkets — and rapid...

Five days on from the killing of El Mencho, the chaos briefly unleashed nationwide by Cartel Jalisco looks more like a spectacle designed to shape the public's perception of its strength.

Your weekend read from @liliasaul.bsky.social
and I for @occrp.org
www.occrp.org/en/feature/f...

💥Trying to lift falling poll numbers, Viktor Orbán is staging a confrontation with Ukraine, sending a video message to Zelensky hoping Kyiv escalates. Note: Russia—not Ukraine—bombed the Druzhba oil pipeline and Orbán sent no similar warning to Moscow.

The ever-insightful @anndlandes.bsky.social on the difficulty to convey reality in Mexico when violence momentarily captures the whole world's attention

You read that right - US allows drug traffickers to obtain prívate jets to fly cocaine all over Latin America. Crucial investigation by the excellent @evodzoni.bsky.social 👇

US brokers aren't required to vet their clients, even if they're anonymous shell firms, allowing them to operate in what experts describe as "wilful blindness".

Meanwhile, the US Federal Aviation Authority haven't acted on years of warnings about their regulatory blind spot.

We found that almost of a third of the planes sold by one Californian jet broker - a man named Lance Zane Ricotta - since 2014 have ended up in suspected drug trafficking incidents, seized or burnt in the Venezuelan llanos, Honduran jungle and even as far as Ghana...

Trail of Drug-Linked Planes Leads Back to California Seller – and U.S. Aviation Regulatory ‘Blind Spot’ OCCRP reviewed the sales of 30 planes by Lance Zane Ricotta’s companies since 2014, and found evidence that 11 of them were seized, investigated, or found abroad in suspected or confirmed drug cases. ...

NEW INVESTIGATION:
While the Trump Administration threatens military action in Venezuela and Mexico over drug trafficking, the US has left loopholes wide open allowing traffickers to obtain private jets in the US, completely anonymously, for flying cocaine across LatAm
www.occrp.org/en/project/n...

House Arab I was working at the magazine as a fact-checker and my parents no longer considered me a failure, not because they read or admired it, but because when they said its name to friends and relatives it s...

Truly a remarkable piece here in Bidoun by Ismail Ibrahim on his time as the sole Arabic-speaking fact-checker at The New Yorker. It's very well-written and

...the exceptions to standards editor David Remnick makes to protect Israeli interests in that mag is really quite something.

Just Beyond the Texas Border, Chihuahua Is Launching a Burgeoning State Surveillance System The 20-story Torre Centinela looming over Juárez is part of a much larger AI-powered network that won’t stop at the U.S.-Mexico divide.

NEW: Chihuahua, Mexico's most sprawling state, is building a surveillance system.

Once complete, it'll have almost 10K cameras, including some w/ facial recognition capabilities.

Authorities offered to share access with US police—including Texas DPS. 🧵

www.texasobserver.org/texas-chihua...

Sunday at the garden party for Curtis Yarvin and the new, new right [FREE TO READ] What you learn at a gathering of neoreactionaries, Very Online rightwingers and the formerly cancelled

I spent the day with Curtis Yarvin and the "dissident right" at a garden party in Surrey and wrote quite a few words about it.

My cover story for today’s FT Magazine

on.ft.com/4ooXS4t [GIFT LINK! 🎁]

We need your help An urgent appeal from the Meduza team — Meduza Dear Meduza in English readers,

Dear readers, we urgently need your help.
Without at least 15,000 regular supporters, Meduza as you know it will cease to exist. But if you come through, you know we’ll keep working for you.
Please, read our full statement here:
meduza.io/en/feature/2...

ANALYSIS: Alleged Mexican Cartel Members Buy Time With Legal Mechanism Men accused of murder, drug trafficking, and cartel activity have used “amparos,” which are supposed to protect individual rights against miscarriages of justice, to indefinitely delay trials and extr...

Unable to extradite cartel capos due to legal processes but under pressure from the White House to take action, Mexico found a way to bypass a key human rights law by 'expelling' them north. Here, @liliasaul.bsky.social and I dig into the amparos behind the decision.

www.occrp.org/en/feature/a...

two deep state superpowers for the price of one

so great to see former enemies banding together for the greater good: subscription-based infotainment

Chomsky 🤝 CIA = helping you nail that next big performance review

How a student’s death in Mexico raises questions about police violence A 22-year-old’s death has highlighted the tensions between police and student teachers with a tradition of protest.

My first report for ‪@al-jazeera-english.bsky.social ‬in a while- on the death of Jesús Alaín Vásquez, a student of the Mactumatzá Normal here in Chiapas & the demands of his classmates for justice. www.aljazeera.com/news/longfor...

"They’re starting to resist more now,” to which an officer replies: “We’re going to end up shooting some of them."

Opinion | How Zohran Mamdani Answers, ‘Where Are You From?’

Zohran Mamdani is not only doing something different in politics – he's bringing the different parts of his identity into his campaign. I write about Ugandan Asian diasporic identity and coming from many places @nytopinion.nytimes.com ‪@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social‬
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/25/o...

Hace unas semanas, la Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores de México intervino tres bancos mexicanos acusados por el Departamento del Tesoro de EE. UU. de presuntos vínculos con el crimen organizado.

Hoy te presentamos otros hallazgos:

El inmenso Chaco paraguayo esconde muchos secretos. ¿Quieres saber cuáles descubrimos?

Spectacular, no notes.

Report: Fashion Giants are Fueling Amazon Deforestation Illegal cattle ranches clearing the Amazon rainforest are behind the leather in high-end handbags made by top European and American fashion houses, a new report has found.

www.occrp.org/en/news/repo...

How smuggled US fuel funds Mexico’s cartels Sophisticated criminal networks are illegally importing huge volumes of fuel — and piling pressure on Mexico’s president

Since 2022, Mexico’s customs have been controlled by the military as part of a vast expansion of its power [...] In that time illegal imports have exploded in volume.

“Either they’ve been totally blind and incompetent or complicit.”

ig.ft.com/mexico-fuel-...

San Cristóbal de Las Casas: Where does all the water go? Residents of San Cristóbal de las Casas are demanding change from corporations and government to secure reliable access to potable water.

mexiconewsdaily.com/news/san-cri...

Between harassment and expulsion, Georgia is bent on silencing British journalist Will Neal Independent British journalist Will Neal was arbitrarily denied entry into Georgia, where he has lived since 2022, upon returning from a trip to the United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU). Report...

On Tuesday night I was barred from entering Georgia, my home for the last three years. Official reasons were given as “other,” but from the circumstances of my departure in April it’s clear the refusal is directly tied to my work covering the country as a journalist. 1/

rsf.org/en/between-h...