The Criminal Frontiers of the Amazon – Dialogo Américas

The Amazon region between Brazil, Colombia and Peru is one of the areas with the highest concentration of organized crime that threatens security in all of Latin America. It extends for hundreds of kilometers and counts among its main urban centers the Brazilian city of Tabatinga, the Colombian city of Leticia and the Peruvian city of Santa Rosa de Yavari. Part of the territory is home to indigenous communities who are among the main victims of the expansion of crime.

“This area serves as a criminal laboratory for international networks and makes it possible to evade law enforcement simply by crossing borders. Due to differences in legal frameworks and definitions of environmental crime, Amazon goods can increase in value simply by moving them from one country to another,” said security expert Bram Ebus, author of the recent Crisis Group report A Three-Border Problem: Curbing the Amazon’s Criminal Borderstold Dialogue.

The penetration of Colombian guerrilla groups such as the Carolina Ramírez Front, the expansion of coca plantations in Peru and the domination of Brazilian criminal groups over river routes are some of the challenges in the region. Cocaine, gold and timber are among the illicit goods trafficked that have made this triple border attractive to organized crime.

Cocaine trafficking

While in other areas of the Amazon the illegal timber trade is the main cause of deforestation, in this triple border region cocaine is the main driver of environmental destruction. In the Peruvian departments of Ucayali and Loreto, coca cultivation has almost tripled in recent years, from 2,939 hectares in 2018 to 8,613 in 2022, according to data from Peru’s National Commission for Development and Life Without Drugs (DEVIDA).

According to the Peruvian daily The RepublicDrug traffickers have created the so-called “right to the community” as part of their strategies to expand unhindered. This is a financial compensation to the local community for the land used for coca cultivation. This money is used to finance small works and projects to improve the modest living conditions of the inhabitants. This strategy has contributed to Peru becoming the country with the highest coca cultivation in the Amazon.

The epicentre of this transformation is the province of Mariscal Ramón Castilla, in the department of Loreto, where more and more laboratories are also opening to refine the medicine.

“The proliferation of coca plantations has destroyed pristine Amazon forests. At the same time, cocaine labs are dumping toxic chemicals into the ecosystem. In addition, many local youth have been lured to coca plantations in Peru with promises of profit. However, payments are often made in the form of cocaine paste by local kingpins, which not only encourages drug use but also promotes addiction among the workers themselves,” Ebus said. Dialogue.

With the growing influence of cocaine trafficking in the border area, several Brazilian armed groups have expanded their presence, causing a turf war with an increase in violence. The Crisis Group report highlights in particular the dangerous expansion of the Red Command (CV), one of Brazil’s largest criminal organizations, based in Rio de Janeiro. In addition, Colombian authorities have recently warned of the emergence of a new and dangerous alliance with the Colombian guerrilla group Carolina Ramírez Front, a dissident group of the now demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

According to the Brazilian Public Security Forum Mapping violence in the Amazon By 2023, the scenario could worsen, including armed conflict, as at least 10 criminal factions from Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia and Peru are already active on the Brazilian Amazon border. In addition to Brazilian criminal groups, including Los Crias, the First Capital Command (PCC) and the Northern Cartel, “the Peruvian mega-gangs Clan Chuquizuta, Border Command and Los Quispe Palomino” are also present, the report said.

Other illegal activities and increased piracy

In addition to cocaine production and trafficking, the increase in illegal fishing also poses a threat to the region’s security. The activity depletes available resources and destroys protected species such as the arapaima gigas, a giant fish typical of the Amazon rivers, called pirarucu in Brazil and paiche in Peru. “Illegal fishing has become an ideal market for laundering illicit profits. The high international demand for certain Amazonian fish, including China, offers significant returns. In addition, the lack of legal controls allows traders to introduce illegally obtained fish into legal supply chains, while fishing areas overlap with important river corridors for drug trafficking,” Ebus said. Dialogue.

Using the same drug trafficking routes and logistics for other illicit trade is a strategy that allows organized crime to consolidate in the region. Cocaine is often transported in trucks carrying illegally harvested timber, sometimes even hidden in tree trunks. Sharing borders is undoubtedly a further facilitator for circumventing controls. For example, the illegal origin of timber smuggled into Brazil is disguised with false Peruvian certifications, a technique also used for timber illegally harvested in Peru and imported as if it were legal in Colombia.
Finally, in this triple border, as in other areas of the Amazon, illegal gold mining is flourishing, especially along the Purué River, which in recent months has also expanded into protected indigenous territories, such as on the Colombian side where the Yurí-Passé people live. According to the Crisis Group report, the CV has financed illegal mining activities in the region and in some cases purchased gold directly from miners.

“With the increase in cocaine and illegal gold shipments on the Amazon rivers, river piracy has become a growing phenomenon. Not only are illegal traders being attacked, killed and robbed, but public transport boats have also become a target,” Ebus said.

According to a complaint filed by Brazil’s National Syndicate of Shipping Companies (Syndarma), more than 7.7 million liters of fuel were stolen in attacks on transport ships in the Brazilian state of Amazonas alone between late 2020 and late 2023. The damage amounts to approximately $8.7 million.

The importance of international cooperation

The expansion of organized crime not only threatens the security of the region, but also the environment. “Illegal gold mining destroys rivers by dumping toxic mercury into the ecosystem, jungles are razed to the ground to create coca plantations and drug labs are contaminated with chemical residues. And that’s without even mentioning the fish stocks that are depleted by fishing activities financed by criminals,” Ebus said.

The damage is in many cases irreversible and affects the green lung of the planet, which is everyone’s heritage and therefore requires global efforts. “Because of, among other things, the global demand for raw materials from the Amazon, international cooperation to identify and combat criminal networks is crucial. And international support for cross-border policing is essential,” says Ebus.

In August 2023, eight Amazonian countries met in Belém, Brazil, where they adopted a declaration pledging to redouble multilateral efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest. Among the measures adopted, they agreed to strengthen cooperation against illegal mining and logging, expand intelligence sharing between security forces, and establish joint police and air traffic control centers to improve the capacities of authorities, among other things.

In July, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen announced the Amazon Region Initiative Against Illicit Finance to combat wildlife crime. It is a partnership with the Amazon Basin countries of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Suriname.

“Crimes against nature generate hundreds of billions of dollars in illicit revenue while harming local communities and threatening critical ecosystems,” Yellen said at the initiative’s launch in Belém. “These crimes fuel corruption and destabilization wherever they occur. By launching this initiative, we are helping to protect the integrity of the international financial system while combating a major threat to local economies and the environment,” she said.

The initiative launched by the United States is also an incentive for the various countries in the region to strengthen cooperation among themselves to achieve standardization of legislation on environmental crime. This is an important step forward for the security of the Amazon region.