Central America besieged: cartels and maras country threat analysis
2011; Routledge; Volume: 22; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/09592318.2011.620806
ISSN1743-9558
Autores Tópico(s)Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance
ResumoAbstract The following is a threat assessment of the seven countries that make up Central America. That region is struggling to control burgeoning street gangs and organized criminal groups which have overrun its poor and ill-prepared security forces. The results are clear: rising crime and homicide rates throughout the region; corruption and instability within the governments. The two gangs that challenge authority are transnational in nature but pose less a threat to national security than they do to everyday life. Their drug peddling and extortion have shattered entire communities and forced the governments to reallocate important resources. The governments' strategy of jailing suspected gang members en masse has arguably made them stronger rather than weaker. Meanwhile, the organized criminal groups have deeply penetrated governments at nearly every level. They control swaths of territory, co-opting these areas, as well as the local governments, for their own purposes. Opposition to them is often futile. Mexican-based organizations are increasingly using violent tactics to displace their rivals. The governments of the region seem unprepared to meet the challenge. Keywords: Barrio 18cartelsCentral AmericacorruptionFARCgangsillicit traffickingmarasMara Salvatruchaorganized crimeSinaloa CartelZetas Acknowledgements This report is based on numerous visits to Central America between 2009 and 2011, specifically to El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, in concert with research concerning criminal groups and street gangs. The author is fluent in Spanish and interviewed dozens of public officials, prosecutors, criminal analysts and others regarding these subjects. Much of his work can be found on InSight's website: http://insightcrime.org Notes 1. Exceptions include CitationBruneau, 'The Maras and National Security in Central America'; CitationArana, 'How the Street Gangs Took Central America'; and more recently CitationDudley, 'Drug Trafficking Organizations in Central America'. 2. All population and area data is taken from CIA 'The World Factbook'. 3. All socio-economic data is take from the World Bank website, http://data.worldbank.org/. 4. Guatemalan National Police statistics provided to the author. 5. CitationCastresana, Press Conference. 6. See World Bank, http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.DST.10TH.10/countries/GT?display = graph. 7. See CitationInternational Crisis Group, 'Guatemala: Squeezed between Crime and Impunity'. 8. CitationUnited States Agency for International Development, 'Central America and Mexico Gang Assessment: Annex 2: Guatemala Profile'. 9. CitationSeelke, 'Anti-Gang Efforts in Central America: Moving Beyond Mano Dura?'. 10. Citation InSight , 'InSide: The Most Dangerous Job in the World'. 11. Author interview with foreign government investigator, San Salvador, 12 May 2011, who preferred to remain anonymous. 12. Citation BBC News , 'Four Severed Heads Found in Guatemala City'. 13. Author interviews, Guatemala City, 15–25 May 2011. 14. Dudley, 'Drug Trafficking Organizations in Central America', 16–17. 15. CitationLopez, 'Guatemala's Crossroads'. 16. Author interviews, Guatemala City, 15–25 May 2011. 17. Citation InSight , 'InSight: The Battle for Guatemala's Heart has Begun'. 18. CitationSullivan, 'Pandillas Transnacionales'. 19. Author interviews, Guatemala City, 15–25 May 2011. 20. Statistics provided by the Guatemalan National Police to the author. 21. Belize National Police statistics obtained at: http://multimedia.laprensagrafica.com/pdf/2011/03/20110322-PDF-Informe-0311-Homicidios-en-Centroamerica.pdf. 22. 'Gang Situation in Belize' a presentation given by Belize Police, 15 October 2007. 23. See CitationUnited States Department of State, 'International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2011'. 24. See CitationUnited States Department of State, 'International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2011' 25. United States Agency for International Development, 'Central America and Mexico Gang Assessment: Annex 1: El Salvador Profile'. 26. El Salvador National Police statistics provided to the author. 27. Author interview in El Salvador with Jeanette Aguilar, the Executive Director the Instituto Universitario de Opinion Publica (IUDOP), 19 February 2010. 28. Author interviews with Salvadoran police and intelligence officials, 7–10 November 2010; 11–15 May 2011. 29. Dudley, 'Drug Trafficking Organizations in Central America', 27. 30. Citation InSight , 'El Salvador Soldiers "Selling Guns to Drug Gangs"'. 31. CitationFarah, 'Organized Crime in El Salvador'. 32. Citation La Prensa Gráfica , 'Reynerio Flores Lazo seguirá procesado en su domicilio'. 33. Author interview with foreign investigative agent, San Salvador, 14 May 2011, who preferred anonymity. 34. Honduran authorities do not release statistics. The source for this is Citation Heraldo . See also: http://multimedia.laprensagrafica.com/pdf/2011/03/20110322-PDF-Informe-0311-Homicidios-en-Centroamerica.pdf. 35. United States Agency for International Development, 'Central America and Mexico Gang Assessment: Annex 3: Honduras Profile'. 36. Citation La Prensa , 'Vinculan a la Mara 18 con matanza'. 37. Citation La Tribuna , 'El Gato Negro liquidó a Julián Arístides González'. 38. Citation McClatchy , 'Cocaine Lab Found in Honduras Signals Big Shift in Drug Business'. 39. Citation InSight , 'InSight: Zelaya and Organized Crime'. 40. From CIA 'World Factbook'. 41. Citation McClatchy , 'Central America Increasingly Becoming Home to Drug Gangs'. 42. Citation EFE , 'Nicaragua Archbishop Warns That Ortega Reelection Bid Setting "Dangerous Precedent"'. 43. Citation InSight , 'State Department Cable Accuses Ortega of Receiving Drug Money'. 44. Nicaraguan National Police statistics obtained via: http://multimedia.laprensagrafica.com/pdf/2011/03/20110322-PDF-Informe-0311-Homicidios-en-Centroamerica.pdf 45. See CitationUnited States Department of State, 'International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2011'. 46. Citation Instituto de Estudios Estratégicos y Políticas Públicas , 'Una aproximación a la problemática de la criminalidad organizada en las comunidades del caribe y de fronteras: Nicaragua – Costa Rica – Panama', 29. 47. Citation Instituto de Estudios Estratégicos y Políticas Públicas , 'Una aproximación a la problemática de la criminalidad organizada en las comunidades del caribe y de fronteras: Nicaragua – Costa Rica – Panama', 29 48. Carbon neutrality means offsetting or reducing carbon emissions to zero. Costa Rica has said it will achieve this goal by 2030. 49. Costa Rica National Police statistics obtained via: http://multimedia.laprensagrafica.com/pdf/2011/03/20110322-PDF-Informe-0311-Homicidios-en-Centroamerica.pdf 50. Citation InSight , 'Sinaloa Cartel Entrenched in Costa Rica'. 51. See United States Department of State, 'International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2010'. 52. Citation InSight , 'Panama: At the Mouth of the Funnel'. 53. Citation InSight , 'Cables Highlight Panama's Weakness While FARC Threaten Border'. 54. Panamanian National Police statistics obtained via: http://multimedia.laprensagrafica.com/pdf/2011/03/20110322-PDF-Informe-0311-Homicidios-en-Centroamerica.pdf 55. Author interview with US official who preferred anonymity, Mexico City, 27 September 2010. 56. Citation Americas Quarterly , 'Panama Inaugurates First of 11 Anti-narcotics Bases'. 57. Citation EFE , 'Balbina denuncia existencia de casete que vincula a Martinelli y Murcia'. 58. Citation Panama Digital , 'EE.UU.: Funcionarios y policías, detrás del tráfico de armas y droga'. 59. This may represent a different process than what is taking place in Colombia and Mexico or the process of integration and connectivity may still be immature. See the discussion of cartel phase interrelationships with gang generations in CitationBunker and Sullivan, 'Cartel Evolution Revisited'. 60. These numbers come from the Secretario Ejecutivo del Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Pública, part of the Secretario de Seguridad Pública, the government's national security coordinating body. Available online at: http://www.secretariadoejecutivosnsp.gob.mx/en/SecretariadoEjecutivo/Incidencia_Delictiva [accessed 9 June 2011].
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