Crime and Armed Groups in the International and Legal Amazon

Abstract

Transnational illicit activities, in addition to the unbridled greed for mineral resources, strongly impact Amazonian territories extending from the Orinoco Mining Arc in Venezuela to northern Brazil, aggravating problems of environmental impacts and border security, due to groups of the armed forces that protect mineral explorers. In Venezuela, megabandas joined the political elite that controls gold mining, as well as members of the Colombian Armed Forces (FARC) and armed military groups representing institutionalised violence, placing Venezuela in second place for murder among South American countries in 2020, with a rate of 45.6 per 100,000 inhabitants. In turn, Brazil reached ninth place, with 19.3 per 100,000 inhabitants. Violent deaths in the North and Northeast regions increased up to a great extent due to clashes between the Red Command and Northern Family factions against the largest group, the First Command of the Capital (PCC), which has more and more Venezuelan members, modifying the criminal modus operandi on the Brazil–Venezuela border. Therefore, Security and Border Defence Plans are indispensable.