Co-Director – Steven Dudley is the co-founder and co-director of InSight Crime and a senior research fellow at American University’s Center for Latin American and Latino Studies in Washington, DC. In 2020, Dudley published his second book, MS-13: The Making of America’s Most Notorious Gang (HarperCollins), which in 2019 won the Lukas Prize for work-in-progress. Dudley is the former bureau chief of the Miami Herald in the Andean Region and the author of Walking Ghosts: Murder and Guerrilla Politics in Colombia (Routledge 2004). Dudley has also reported from Haiti, Brazil, Nicaragua, Cuba and Miami for National Public Radio and the Washington Post, among others. He holds a BA in Latin American History from Cornell University and an MA in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. He was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
X: @stevensdudley – sdudley@insightcrime.org
Co- Director – Jeremy McDermott is co-founder and co-director of InSight Crime. McDermott has more than two decades of experience reporting from around Latin America. He is a former British Army officer, who saw active service in Northern Ireland and Bosnia. Upon retiring from the military he became a war correspondent, covering the Balkans, based in Bosnia, then the Middle East from Beirut, before being sent to Colombia to cover the conflict. He has traveled extensively throughout Latin America. Before setting up InSight Crime he worked for many of Britain’s most prestigious media outlets, including the BBC, the Daily Telegraph and The Economist. He specializes in drug trafficking, organized crime and the Colombian civil conflict. He has an MA from the University of Edinburgh.
X: @jerrymcdermott – jmcdermott@insightcrime.org
Chief Operating Officer – María Elena Ortegón holds degrees in business administration (2006) and public accounting (2008), as well as a specialization in business law from the Universidad Externado de Colombia (2009). She worked as a manager in the hotel and real estate sector for seven years. She has worked for InSight Crime since March 2014.
X: @nariaortegon – administration@insightcrime.org
Deputy Director of Content – Mike LaSusa is a journalist with more than a decade of experience covering security and law throughout the Americas. He earned a master’s degree in international affairs from American University and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Miami. He first joined InSight Crime in 2014 and rejoined the organization in July 2022, overseeing content production across all projects and formats.
X: @mikelasusa – mlasusa@insightcrime.org
English Editor – Liza Schmidt is a journalist with a dual master’s degree in global journalism and Latin American and Caribbean studies from New York University (NYU) and a bachelor’s in human development from Brown University. She previously worked as an editor for NACLA and writer for Latin America News Dispatch. She joined InSight Crime in May 2023.
X: @lizamayschmidt – lschmidt@insightcrime.org
English Editor – Peter Appleby graduated from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London with a bachelor’s degree in social anthropology. He has previously worked as a reporter and editor for a broad range of publications covering Latin American issues. He joined InSight Crime in May 2022. X: @peter_a_appleby – pappleby@insightcrime.org
Project Manager / Investigator – Alex Papadovassilakis is InSight Crime’s lead investigator in Central America. Based in Guatemala, he has led several in-depth investigations into drug trafficking, corruption, and gang dynamics. He holds a master’s degree in development studies from the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in Geneva. He joined InSight Crime in 2019.
X: @AlexPapadov – apapadovassilakis@insightcrime.org
Project Manager / Investigator – Parker Asmann earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and Spanish in 2015 from DePaul University, as well as a minor in Latin American studies. He later obtained his master’s degree in international peace and conflict resolution from American University’s School of International Service in 2021. Before joining InSight Crime in 2017, he reported for various publications as a freelance journalist.
X: @PJAsmann – pasmann@insightcrime.org
Project Manager / Investigator – Victoria Dittmar graduated with a degree in international relations and international development from the University of Sussex. She then completed a master’s degree in sociology at the University of Oxford. She has worked with InSight Crime since 2016 and has mainly focused on investigating organized crime in Mexico and Central America.
X: @antjevictoria – vdittmar@insightcrime.org
Project Manager/ Investigator – Sergio Saffon holds a bachelor’s degree in government and international relations from the Universidad Externado de Colombia, and a master’s degree in analysis of contemporary socioeconomic problems in Latin America from Sorbonne University Paris III. He has worked for InSight Crime since 2017 and currently oversees the Colombia Organized Crime Observatory.
X: @SaffonSergio – ssaffon@insightcrime.org
Project Manager / Investigator – Douwe Den Held studied at Utrecht University, obtaining a bachelor’s degrees in social psychology and liberal arts and sciences, and a master’s degree in conflict studies and human rights. At InSight Crime he has conducted research on the cocaine trade to Europe, criminal networks and gangs in the Caribbean, urban conflict in Colombia, and other topics. He joined InSight Crime in 2019.
X: @Douwedenheld – LinkedIn
Project Manager / Investigator – Juan Camilo Jaramillo graduated in political science from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia, where he specialized in conflict resolution and peace research. He holds a master’s degree in international security from the Barcelona Institute of International Studies (IBEI) and has experience working in security and defense, armed conflicts, and organized crime in Latin America. He joined InSight Crime in early 2018.
X: @JaramillocJuan – jjaramillo@insightcrime.org
Investigator – Juan Diego Cárdenas holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations and a master’s degree in political and international studies from the Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá. He is assistant project manager at the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. He joined InSight Crime in July 2018 and formerly worked on Colombia and environmental crime projects.
jcardenas@insightcrime.org
Investigator – Alicia Flórez is an economist and holds a master’s degree from EAFIT University. She joined InSight Crime as a researcher in 2019 and has participated in projects on the tri-border regions in Central America and the Southern Cone. Since 2020, her work has focused on the analysis of economies and criminal groups in Colombia.
aflorez@insightcrime.org
Investigator – Sara García is a historian with a master’s degree in peace building from Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá. She has participated in investigations on criminal networks, criminal actors, urban conflict, and gender-based violence in Colombia. She has also investigated the flow of chemical precursors for the production of synthetic drugs in Mexico. She has been part of the InSight Crime since 2020.
X: @SGarcia426 – LinkedIn – sgarcia@insightcrime.org
Investigator – Charlotte Newell graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in global affairs, with a focus on security policy. She worked with the Small Arms Survey to produce a report on small arms trafficking in Central America as her senior capstone, and worked with local authorities in Southwest Florida to collect data on human trafficking in the region. She joined InSight Crime in January 2020.
X: @TravelFarChar – cnewell@insightcrime.org
Investigator – Henry Shuldiner graduated from Hamilton College with a degree in literature and completed his master’s degree in international relations at Syracuse University. He was previously a recipient of the US Fulbright fellowship in Colombia. At InSight Crime, he has written and researched about organized crime across Latin America, with a specific interest in Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, and Chile. He joined InSight Crime in 2022.
X: @HenryShuldiner – LinkedIn – hshuldiner@insightcrime.org
Investigator – Gavin Voss earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Rice University in 2022. At InSight Crime, he has written about a wide range of topics including arms trafficking and violence in the Caribbean, security policy in Central America, and the cocaine pipeline to Europe. He joined InSight Crime in January 2023. X: @gvoss19 – LinkedIn – gvoss@insightcrime.org
Investigator –Juliana Manjarrés holds a journalism degree from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá and is a conflict resolution specialist. For the past two years, her work at InSight Crime has centered on investigations into organized crime and gang dynamics in Colombia and the Caribbean, including Haiti, Trinidad and Tobago, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.
LinkedIn – jmanjarres@insightcrime.org
Investigator – Sean Doherty holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of Manchester and a National Council for the Training of Journalists diploma in journalism. He is an investigator at InSight Crime, joining the organization at the beginning of 2023.
X:@seaninedoc – sdoherty@insightcrime.org
Creative Manager – Elisa Roldán Restrepo has a degree in graphic communication and advertising from the Universidad de Medellín, and a master’s degree in visual and experience design from the University of Europe for Applied Sciences in Berlin. She joined InSight Crime in 2016 and currently oversees multimedia content production and supports the organization’s communication and innovation strategies.
eroldan@insightcrime.org
Graphics Manager – Ana Isabel Rico Quevedo has a degree in product design engineering from EAFIT University in Medellín, Colombia. She has more than 6 years’ experience in graphic design and joined InSight Crime in 2017, where she currently oversees graphic content production and develops visual material for investigative projects.
Senior Graphic Designer – Maria Isabel Gaviria Gómez has a degree in graphic design from Institución Universitaria Pascual Bravo in Medellín. She has over 12 years of experience in the field of advertising, entertainment, and managing cultural projects. She is currently developing the graphic conceptualization for investigative journalism projects at Insight Crime.
mgaviria@insightcrime.org