Download or read book Illicit Networks and Politics in Latin America written by Ivan Briscoe and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "As democracy has been consolidated and taken root in Latin America, emerging problems have become both more complex and less obvious. Though democracy has taken root, challenges to this state of affairs arise in countless scenarios that are more subtle than the fear of a return to the coups d'état that haunted the region in the past. One of the biggest challenges is the increasingly serious nexus between organized crime and the illicit organizations and political actors that support it. This book, produced by International IDEA, NIMD and the Clingendael Institute, provides an insight into this critical nexus and its impact on the region's democracies. The book focuses on the influence of illicit networks on the political landscape, and in particular the most obvious manifestation of this relationship--the corruption of public officials. It also analyses the emergence of regions in which citizens' rights and constitutional authority no longer prevail, and how criminal activity has led to the emergence of parallel regimes in which violence and an absence of respect for human rights are the rule rather than the exception. So-called state capture is an intermediate stage between these two extremes. It goes far beyond mere corruption and while it has not led to the total demise of the state, it has reoriented it in favour of criminal interests."--Page 5.
Download or read book Illicit Networks written by Ivan Briscoe and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wave of corruption scandals has gripped Latin America over the past year. From Argentina and Brazil, to Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, rackets involving state actors, the judiciary, business and organized crime have caused internal unrest and caught international attention. This article argues that in order to understand these dynamics it is crucial to look more closely at two interconnected realities characterizing many Latin American countries: first, the existence of criminalized areas that are beyond formal state control; and second, the presence of illicit networks within the state.
Download or read book Macro Criminalidad Complejidad Y Resiliencia De Las Redes Criminales written by Eduardo Salcedo-Albaran and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2015-05-20 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drug Trafficking, Corruption and States is cutting edge research. Garay Salamanca and Salcedo-Albarn, along with their contributing authors help document the transition from economic to political imperatives within transnational drug cartels. The break from the Zetas by La Familia Michoacana is one example contained in their empirical survey. Social Network Analysis is their tool for illuminating the varying dynamics of cartel-state inter-penetration and reconfiguration. In doing so they clearly discern between State Capture (StC) and Co-opted State Reconfiguration (CStR). As the drug wars and criminal insurgencies rage in the Americas and beyond, this seminal framework will facilitate efforts by scholars, law enforcement officials, intelligence analysts and policymakers to understand shifts in sovereignty, and to illuminate the mechanisms of transnational illicit networks and their interaction with the state.
Download or read book Strategic Overview of Latin America Identifying New Convergence Centers Forgotten Territories and Vital Hubs for Transnational Organized Crime written by Kathryn Babineau and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-02-12 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book outlines a number of critical strategic challenges in Latin America for U.S. policymakers, which were directly identified in the December 2017 National Security Strategy. However, despite this recognition, these issues are seldom featured in policy discussions about the region. Through the framework of the convergence paradigm, which contends that multiple criminal/ terrorist groups work collaboratively when such cooperation is mutually convenient, we consider a number of territories, key commodities, and new money-laundering methodologies that have allowed transnational organized crime (TOC) networks to flourish in seemingly marginal regions of the hemisphere. Long considered to be a critical challenge in Latin America, regional TOC groups, often under the direct protection of state actors, are able to adapt and thrive when policymakers do not understand the evolution of their operations, recognize the roles criminalized states often play, or develop innovative tools to combat TOC adaptations. Through examination of these evolving challenges, this analysis seeks to raise awareness among policymakers and to demonstrate how relatively few strategically targeted, well-placed resources can curb the financial and territorial reach of TOC groups. Furthermore, the analysis shows that continuing neglect of these challenges can enable the growth of criminalized, anti-U.S. regional powers, and hamper the ability of key U.S. allies to promote the rule of law and democratic growth throughout the region. This analysis begins with a study of convergence in the illicit gold trade, drawing on fieldwork in Puerto Maldonado, Peru. It then considers three countries-Paraguay, Bolivia, and Nicaragua-that receive little attention from policymakers but are key players in the emerging drug trafficking, gold trade, money-laundering, and extra-regional illicit networks in Latin America. The discussion of both Bolivia and Paraguay features a brief study of the activities of the Primeiro Comando da Capital (First Command of the Capital), based in Brazil but rapidly expanding its operations across South and Central America. Despite being one of the largest and fastest-growing criminal gangs in the hemisphere, it is seldom viewed as an important consideration for regional trends. Finally, an overview of the Ramiro Network, a massive regional state-sponsored money-laundering structure based on fictitious oil sales, highlights a key convergence point for TOC activity in El Salvador, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Colombia- including the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or, FARC), FARC "dissidents," and Russia.Many trend lines in Latin America are worrisome, and the actors discussed here are directly tied to the more visible crisis in Venezuela and the growing threat in Colombia. Ties between the FARC secretariat in Colombia-recently demobilized after a historic December 2016 peace agreement-and FARC dissident structures that remain engaged in cocaine trafficking and other illicit activities are now clearly documented and demand serious responses in order to ensure the continued security of Colombia, a close U.S. regional ally. Leaving the actors in these new regions of convergence to grow unchecked presents a serious security risk to the United States and the region.
Download or read book Homicidal Ecologies written by Deborah J. Yashar and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-12-06 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why has violence spiked in Latin America's contemporary democracies? What explains its temporal and spatial variation? Analyzing the region's uneven homicide levels, this book maps out a theoretical agenda focusing on three intersecting factors: the changing geography of transnational illicit political economies; the varied capacity and complicity of state institutions tasked with providing law and order; and organizational competition to control illicit territorial enclaves. These three factors inform the emergence of 'homicidal ecologies' (subnational regions most susceptible to violence) in Latin America. After focusing on the contemporary causes of homicidal violence, the book analyzes the comparative historical origins of weak and complicit public security forces and the rare moments in which successful institutional reform takes place. Regional trends in Latin America are evaluated, followed by original case studies of Central America, which claims among the highest homicide rates in the world.
Download or read book More Money More Crime written by Marcelo Bergman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-07 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While worldwide crime is declining overall, criminality in Latin America has reached unprecedented levels that have ushered in social unrest and political turmoil. Despite major political and economic gains, crime has increased in every Latin American country over the past 25 years, currently making this region the most crime-ridden and violent in the world. Over the past two decades, Latin America has enjoyed economic growth, poverty and inequality reduction, rising consumer demand, and spreading democracy, but it also endured a dramatic outbreak of violence and property crimes. In More Money, More Crime, Marcelo Bergman argues that prosperity enhanced demand for stolen and illicit goods supplied by illegal rackets. Crime surged as weak states and outdated criminal justice systems could not meet the challenge posed by new profitably criminal enterprises. Based on large-scale data sets, including surveys from inmates and victims, Bergman analyzes the development of crime as a business in the region, and the inability-and at times complicity-of state agencies and officers to successfully contain it. While organized crime has grown, Latin American governments have lacked the social vision to promote sustainable upward mobility, and have failed to improve the technical capacities of law enforcement agencies to deter criminality. The weak state responses have only further entrenched the influence of criminal groups making them all the more difficult to dismantle. More Money, More Crime is a sobering study that foresees a continued rise in violence while prosperity increases unless governments develop appropriate responses to crime and promote genuine social inclusion.
Download or read book A Strategic Overview of Latin America Identifying New Convergence Centers Forgotten Territories and Vital Hubs for Transnational Organized Crime written by Douglas Farah and published by . This book was released on 2019-01-30 with total page 55 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper outlines a number of critical strategic challenges in Latin America for U.S. policymakers, which were directly identified in the December 2017 National Security Strategy. However, despite this recognition, these issues are seldom featured in policy discussions about the region. Through the framework of the convergence paradigm, which contends that multiple criminal/ terrorist groups work collaboratively when such cooperation is mutually convenient, we consider a number of territories, key commodities, and new money-laundering methodologies that have allowed transnational organized crime (TOC) networks to flourish in seemingly marginal regions of the hemisphere. Long considered to be a critical challenge in Latin America, regional TOC groups, often under the direct protection of state actors, are able to adapt and thrive when policymakers do not understand the evolution of their operations, recognize the roles criminalized states often play, or develop innovative tools to combat TOC adaptations. Through examination of these evolving challenges, this analysis seeks to raise awareness among policymakers and to demonstrate how relatively few strategically targeted, well-placed resources can curb the financial and territorial reach of TOC groups. Furthermore, the analysis shows that continuing neglect of these challenges can enable the growth of criminalized, anti-U.S. regional powers, and hamper the ability of key U.S. allies to promote the rule of law and democratic growth throughout the region. This analysis begins with a study of convergence in the illicit gold trade, drawing on fieldwork in Puerto Maldonado, Peru. It then considers three countries--Paraguay, Bolivia, and Nicaragua--that receive little attention from policymakers but are key players in the emerging drug trafficking, gold trade, money-laundering, and extra-regional illicit networks in Latin America. The discussion of both Bolivia and Paraguay features a brief study of the activities of the Primeiro Comando da Capital (First Command of the Capital), based in Brazil but rapidly expanding its operations across South and Central America. Despite being one of the largest and fastest-growing criminal gangs in the hemisphere, it is seldom viewed as an important consideration for regional trends. Finally, an overview of the Ramiro Network, a massive regional state-sponsored money-laundering structure based on fictitious oil sales, highlights a key convergence point for TOC activity in El Salvador, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Colombia-- including the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or, FARC), FARC "dissidents," and Russia.Many trend lines in Latin America are worrisome, and the actors discussed here are directly tied to the more visible crisis in Venezuela and the growing threat in Colombia. Ties between the FARC secretariat in Colombia--recently demobilized after a historic December 2016 peace agreement--and FARC dissident structures that remain engaged in cocaine trafficking and other illicit activities are now clearly documented and demand serious responses in order to ensure the continued security of Colombia, a close U.S. regional ally. Leaving the actors in these new regions of convergence to grow unchecked presents a serious security risk to the United States and the region.
Download or read book Corruption in the Americas written by Jonathan D. Rosen and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-09-29 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For some states in Latin America, corruption is not simply an industry, but rather it is part of the political system. This collection studies the nature of corruption and its recent trends through expert contributions from scholars from the region who have diverse scholarly backgrounds, theoretical orientations, and methodologies. Through case studies of countries throughout the Americas, the contributors analyze the links between corruption and organized crime, the main actors involved in corruption, governmental responses to corruption, and the impact that corruption has on governmental institutions and people’s faith in them.
Download or read book Crime Violence and the State in Latin America written by Jonathan D. Rosen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-08-03 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this succinct text, Jonathan D. Rosen and Hanna Samir Kassab explore the linkage between weak institutions and government policies designed to combat drug trafficking, organized crime, and violence in Latin America. Using quantitative analysis to examine criminal violence and publicly available survey data from the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) to conduct regression analysis, individual case studies on Colombia, Mexico, El Salvador, and Nicaragua highlight the major challenges that governments face and how they have responded to various security issues. Rosen and Kassab later turn their attention to the role of external criminal actors in the region and offer policy recommendations and lessons learned. Questions explored include: What are the major trends in organized crime in this country? How has organized crime evolved over time? Who are the major criminal actors? How has state fragility contributed to organized crime and violence (and vice versa)? What has been the government’s response to drug trafficking and organized crime? Have such policies contributed to violence? Crime, Violence and the State in Latin America is suitable to both undergraduate and graduate courses in criminal justice, international relations, political science, comparative politics, international political economy, organized crime, drug trafficking, and violence.
Download or read book Crime Violence and the State in Latin America written by Jonathan D. Rosen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-04 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this succinct text, Jonathan D. Rosen and Hanna Samir Kassab explore the linkage between weak institutions and government policies designed to combat drug trafficking, organized crime, and violence in Latin America. Using quantitative analysis to examine criminal violence and publicly available survey data from the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) to conduct regression analysis, individual case studies on Colombia, Mexico, El Salvador, and Nicaragua highlight the major challenges that governments face and how they have responded to various security issues. Rosen and Kassab later turn their attention to the role of external criminal actors in the region and offer policy recommendations and lessons learned. Questions explored include: What are the major trends in organized crime in this country? How has organized crime evolved over time? Who are the major criminal actors? How has state fragility contributed to organized crime and violence (and vice versa)? What has been the government's response to drug trafficking and organized crime? Have such policies contributed to violence? Crime, Violence and the State in Latin America is suitable to both undergraduate and graduate courses in criminal justice, international relations, political science, comparative politics, international political economy, organized crime, drug trafficking, and violence.
Download or read book Transnational Organized Crime in Latin America and the Caribbean written by R. Evan Ellis and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2018-03-19 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transnational Organized Crime in Latin America and the Caribbean: From Evolving Threats and Responses to Integrated, Adaptive Solutions provides a comprehensive overview of and introduction to transnational organized crime in Latin America for the student and practitioner. It addresses the geography of illicit activities, including relationships between source, transit, and consumption zones, as well as illicit activities beyond narcotrafficking, such as illegal mining, contraband, human smuggling, and money laundering. It applies a typology of cartels, intermediate groups, gangs, and ideological groups to examine specific criminal organizations and the relationships between them. It makes a comparative assessment of government approaches to combatting transnational organized crime in the region, including discussions of interagency coordination, interdiction, targeting of criminal group leaders, the use of the military in law enforcement, law enforcement reform efforts, prison control, and international cooperation. It concludes by applying these thorough analyses to make concrete recommendations for both Latin American and United States policymakers.
Download or read book Mexico s Illicit Drug Networks and the State Reaction written by Nathan P. Jones and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cover -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1 The State Reaction and Illicit-Network Resilience -- 2 The Arellano Félix Organization's Resilience -- 3 The State Reaction -- 4 The Sinaloa Cartel, Los Zetas, and Los Caballeros Templarios -- Conclusion -- Appendix: Comparison of Territorial versus Transactional Drug-Trafficking Networks -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z
Download or read book Transnational Organized Crime in Central America and the Caribbean written by and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report is one of several studies conducted by UNODC on organized crime threats around the world. These studies describe what is known about the mechanics of contraband trafficking - the what, who, how, and how much of illicit flows - and discuss their potential impact on governance and development. Their primary role is diagnostic, but they also explore the implications of these findings for policy. Publisher's note.
Download or read book Deviant Globalization written by Nils Gilman and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2011-03-24 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: >
Download or read book Convergence written by Michael Miklaucic and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Drugs and Democracy in Latin America written by Coletta Youngers and published by Lynne Rienner Publishers. This book was released on 2005 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the U.S. has failed to reduce the supply of cocaine and heroin entering its borders, it has, however, succeeded in generating widespread, often profoundly damaging, consequences on democracy and human rights in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Download or read book Criminal Enterprises and Governance in Latin America and the Caribbean written by Enrique Desmond Arias and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-03-30 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through an examination of violent neighborhoods this book shows how criminals affect local politics in Colombia, Brazil, and Jamaica.
