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Organised crime and drug trafficking in Mexico and Central America

17/03/2009 By Raúl Benítez Manaut

As a consequence of the lack of suitableness of the policies implemented by the hemisphere’s states, Latin-American societies are stained by the virus of delinquency linked with drug trafficking. Poverty and underdevelopment have often been blamed as the triggers of this infection, but the main causes of the rise of crime organisations are state’s fragility and ineffectiveness in granting the rule of law.

The geographic position of Mexico, and the countries of Central America and the Caribbean, located between the Andean region (producer) and the United States (consumer), combined with the lack of preparation of those States in the fight against delinquency, reinforces the vulnerability of those countries towards traffickers, and that conjuncture is reflected in the high rates of violence registered in the region.

Those dynamics exceed national borders and have become a transnational affair. In terms of solving the problem it’s capital for affected countries to tighten their cooperation, and to pursue structural reforms with the aim of strengthening justice, security action and erasing corruption. It’s the only effective way to end with the destructive wave of violence and delinquency which is weakening the Latin-American states.


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Keywords

Civil society Conflict Costa Rica Democratic control El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Latin America & Caribbean Mexico Nicaragua

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Bio author: Raúl Benítez Manaut

Researcher of the Centro de Investigaciones sobre América del Norte, UNAM, Mexico. President of the NGO Colectivo de Análisis de la Seguridad con Democracia AC.