Threats to national security from trafficking network from urban environments to the transnational circulation of illicit drugs

Abstract

Increased cocaine production and hegemony of transnational routes have strengthened South American drug trafficking networks. This expansion has unfolded into armed violence in Brazil, as Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO) compete over hegemony of drug corridors and distribution not only in metropolitan regions but, especially, in inner cities. Thus, this study aims to analyze how the new territories of South American drug trafficking relate to the nature and spatiality of violence in Brazil, and to assess what type of direct threat this brings to national security. We have collected georeferenced quantitative data in the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP), the Homicide Monitor of the Igarapé Institute, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). We built our maps and performed our spatial analysis with the Philcarto software. Finally, we observed that the capillarization and hegemony of drug trafficking territories drive the violence in the internal borders and inland cities in Brazil.