As prices for the precious metal soar, the industry’s guardrails have broken down.

Officers denied that an illegal, large-scale gold operation was underway within earshot of their posts. But we had seen it with our own eyes.

The U.S. Mint is legally required to sell only legal, domestic gold. Instead, it is the last link in a chain that launders foreign gold for an insatiable market. Our reporter Justin Scheck traced one such supply chain: from an illegal mine in Colombia all the way to the Mint’s facilities in West Point, N.Y.

Una investigación del Times plantea dudas sobre una operación que tanto Estados Unidos como Ecuador destacaron como parte de una nueva alianza militar contra los narcotraficantes.

The Times visited a village where the United States and Ecuador said they destroyed an armed group’s training camp. Residents said it was actually a dairy farm.

El avión militar, que transportaba a 128 soldados y miembros de la tripulación, se desplomó tras despegar del sur de Colombia, dijeron las autoridades militares.

A military aircraft transporting 128 troops and crew members was in an accident as it took off from southern Colombia, military officials said.

The Times photographed an unexploded munition in southern Colombia, near the Ecuadorean border. A high-stakes feud between both countries quickly ensued.

El Times fotografió una munición sin estallar en el sur de Colombia, cerca de la frontera con Ecuador. Rápidamente, se produjo un enfrentamiento entre ambos países.

Los políticos colombianos se han convertido cada vez más en blanco de la violencia. Un incremento de los secuestros, las amenazas de muerte y los asesinatos ha sacudido al país en vísperas de las elecciones.

Politicians in Colombia have increasingly become targets of violence. A rise in kidnappings, death threats and assassinations has shaken the country ahead of the vote.

Primero fue la embarcación calcinada. Luego los cuerpos destrozados y los paquetes con restos de marihuana. Ahora, los pescadores temen zarpar al océano que los alimenta.

First came the scorched boat. Then the mangled bodies. Then the packets with traces of marijuana. Now, fishermen fear the ocean that feeds them.