About this episode
Today
Introducing: CrowdScience - What keeps the universe in balance?
32m 28s
May 2
Mapping Epstein's global connections
26m 29s
Apr 25
Inside the Mugabe dynasty
26m 29s
May 2022
Mexico: The Yaqui Fight Back
29m 16s
Oct 2023
The Secret Rise of Female Narcos in Latin American Cartels with Deborah Bonello
1h 3m
Oct 2023
The dark but luxurious life of El Chapo’s wife
15 m
Mar 2024
Women tackling substance abuse
27m 25s
Nov 2012
El Salvador's Gang Truce
28m 13s
Apr 2023
The World's Most Powerful Cocaine Broker: Inside the 'Ndrangheta with Antonio Talia
1h 4m
Nov 2018
A Dangerous Place To Be A Woman
27m 19s
Sep 2021
Venturing into the Heart of Manila
25m 45s
Jan 2024
El Chapo: Cocaine kingpin
50m 48s
Apr 2023
Episode 267: Mexican drug lord 'El Chapo', his legacy and the Sinaloa cartel
54m 8s
The Mexican state of Sinaloa is synonymous with drug trafficking. With the profits from organised crime a driver of the local economy, the tentacles of ‘narco cultura’ extend deep into people’s lives – especially those of women. In the city of Culiacan, plastic surgeons service demand for the exaggerated feminine silhouette favoured by the men with guns and hard cash. Often women’s surgery will be paid for by a ‘sponsor’ or ‘godfather.’ Meanwhile, a group of women trackers spend their weekends digging in isolated parts of the state, looking for the remains of loved ones who disappear in Sinaloa’s endless cycle of drug-fuelled violence.
Producer / presenter: Linda Pressly
Producer in Mexico: Ulises Escamilla
Editor: Bridget Harney
(Photo: Lawyer Maria Teresa Guerra advocates for women in Sinaloa. Credit: BBC/Ulises Escamilla)
Listener Ndanusa in Ghana, is gazing up at the stars, and wondering what keeps our universe in balance? Ndanusa knows a thing or two about the stars, and he knows that they use up hydrogen as they burn, and release helium. And he’s wondering, is there something out there which do ... Show More
The personal correspondence, photographs and papers of the late convicted sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein have been released to the public in stages, beginning in December 2025, after an almost unanimous vote in the US Senate. The released files run to three and a half ... Show More
Late Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe died in 2019, but in the years before and since his death, his three children with his former wife, Grace, consistenly made headlines for all the wrong reasons. In April 2026 Bellarmine Mugabe pled guilty to a firearms offence in South Afri ... Show More
Resistance and division among Mexico’s indigenous Yaqui people. Anabela Carlon is a legal advocate for the indigenous Yaqui of Sonora – a fierce defender of her people’s land. She is no stranger to the immense dangers that face her in northern Mexico, a region dominated by organi ... Show More
Deborah Bonello is a Mexico City-based reporter who's distilled years of reporting on some of the most dangerous women on earth into her new book "Narcas: The Secret Rise of Women in Latin America's Cartels". Deborah spoke to Sean about Lola "La Chata", the first female narco bos ... Show More
Thousands of people - including politicians, students and journalists - are killed in drug cartel violence in Mexico every year.One of the biggest cartels is Sinaloa. Joaquín "El Chapo” Guzmán led the cartel until he was jailed in 2019. He’s currently serving a life sentence. His ... Show More
Beatriz de La Pava Hucke talks to two women committed to reducing the stigma and harm caused by drug addiction and tackling the damage done by the illegal drug trade in Europe and the United States.Angela Kennecke is a journalist in the United States who lost her 21 year old daug ... Show More
In one of the most violent countries on earth, peace has broken out. In March, a truce was brokered between El Salvador's two most violent street gangs; they agreed to stop killing each other. The Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18 are criminal outfits that trace their origins to Los ... Show More
In recent years, another one of Italy's feared criminal groups has risen above the Sicilian Mafia to become among the most powerful organized crime groups in the world: The Calabrian 'Ndrangheta. Started as a self-defense militia centuries ago to protect against pirates and raide ... Show More
<p>The most extreme hate crime against women is femicide, the act of killing a person because they are a woman. But there is a growing movement of women who are taking a stand against this crime and demanding that their community takes it seriously. Nelufar Hedayat talks to two a ... Show More
While growing up, Hannah Reyes Morales wasn’t allowed to venture out into the rough streets of Manila, but later her work as a photographer would take her there. In the city’s dark corners, she shed light on the Philippine government’s violent war on drugs and the plight of some ... Show More
The story of Mexican drug lord Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, better known as El Chapo, the leader of one of the world’s most prolific, violent and powerful drug cartels.BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng follow El Chapo from childhood in the Mexican moun ... Show More
He is locked up in a Colorado jail with some of the world’s most notorious prisoners, but the legacy of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman lives on in a never ending cycle of violence and corruption in Mexico.Since his incarceration his Sinaloa Cartel has continued to flood the US with drug ... Show More