Bolivian police have seized 5,000 baby caimans and 500 skins ready to be smuggled to Brazil, evidence of the regional trade in contraband wildlife.

An illegal Florida-bound shipment of some 3,500 animals has been returned to Paraguay, in a case that highlights the scale of animal trafficking in the region.

Interpol arrested nearly 200 people and seized millions of dollars' worth of timber as its first international operation against large-scale illegal logging targeted Latin America's large illicit timber market.

Demand from Chinese buyers has contributed to the growth of an illicit trafficking network that is moving record amounts of granadillo wood out of Nicaragua, according to a new report by investigative website Confidencial.

Following years of pressure by environmental groups, Costa Rica has passed a comprehensive ban on shark finning, outlawing not only the practice itself, but also the importation and transportation of shark fins.

A recent report on the environmental destruction caused by organized crime in Guatemala sheds light on an often overlooked consequence of criminal activity in the Americas.

Colombia's Coast Guard has said that paramilitary successor groups, known as BACRIMs, may be getting increasingly involved in timber trafficking on the Pacific coast as they seek new sources of revenue outside drug trafficking.

More than 59,000 wild animals are illegally captured each year in Colombia and smuggled to Bogota, a city that has become a hub for the exotic species trade.

Authorities in Peru seized thousands of dried seahorses destined for sale in Asia, illustrating the South American country's status as a wildlife trafficking hub and Asia's insatiable appetite for exotic remedies and aphrodisiacs.

The UN may sanction Paraguay for failing to properly monitor its trade in wildlife, a reminder that the country's smuggling networks -- which already move drugs, weapons, and contraband goods through the Southern Cone -- can also adapt themselves to eco-trafficking.