Organized crime diversifies as War on Drugs flounders in Mexico

The War on Drugs has been a defining aspect of public security policy in several Latin American countries for decades. However, as recent scandals across the region have shown, existing anti-drug operations are futile as organized crime becomes more and more powerful. Indeed, criminal groups are targeted mainly for their drug trafficking activities, but ongoing trends have shown that gangs and cartels are expanding into a wide array of endeavors, including extortion, illegal mining and logging, oil theft, and even avocado farming.

As The Brazilian Report has shown, organized crime groups from Mexico down to Brazil have used the state’s shortfalls in responding to the pandemic as an opportunity to improve their public image, expand their influence, and break into new markets.

The average criminal group in Latin America is no longer an all-powerful centralized cartel, but a fluid network willing to adapt to new environments and markets, with a shifting set of allies and enemies. These smaller decentralized groups find it easier to adapt to market conditions and are structured in a way to avoid the public spotlight — of course, it is...