Manuel Velez

Manuel is currently the Deputy Research Director at the National Citizen Observatory, a Mexican leading think tank and NGO specialized in criminal justice, security and lawfulness. As a trained economist he has participated in multiple mixed-method research projects about homicides, extortion, money laundering from human trafficking, kidnappings for ransom, political violence, electoral crimes, money laundering policy, forced disappearances, child recruitment into organized crime, among a vast array of other topics in Mexico.

Moreover, in 2020 he co-authored the first report on the supply side of counterfeiting and the institutional response against it. Years later, he co-authored the first report on illicit pesticides in Mexico including those that are substandard, stolen, tampered, unregistered, smuggled and counterfeit.

He is a regular op-ed writer in online newspapers targeted at Mexican and international audiences. He has also published articles in peer reviewed journals such as Revista Mexicana de Opinión Pública and Boletín Criminológico. Last year, he participated as research assistant for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Issue Paper on Organized Crime and Gender: Issues Relating to the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime. He co-authored a chapter from the book Genética forense en México: promesas y realidades titled Infraestructuras forenses: claves conceptuales para su reflexión published by Editorial Siglo XXI in 2022. He is also a security expert group advisor at the U.S.- Mexico Forum 2025 from the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies based at the University of California San Diego.