Latin America’s Armed Groups Are Expanding Their Empires
Cartels are increasingly moving into legitimate businesses and everyday politics, highlighting the need for a new strategy of confronting them.
FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil — A few weeks ago in Mexico, Julio Almanza, head of the business chambers’ federation in Tamaulipas state, went on television to say that drug cartels were extorting local businesses. Days later, he was shot to death outside his office. After decades of failed repressive anti-drug policies in Latin America, armed groups have expanded their grip far beyond narcotrafficking and now have their hands on vast amounts of land, agriculture, oil and politics in the region. They increasingly operate in a gray zone between legal and illegal business, making it harder to...
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