The response to last week’s crime outbreak was the government’s acknowledgment of an “internal armed conflict” and the identification of criminal groups as “terrorist organizations and belligerent non-state actors”. Beyond the legal considerations regarding this last qualification because of the status it gives these gangs, the central fact is that it has raised the issue to the level of war. Whether we like it or not, from then on the problem of drug trafficking and related gangs will be treated basically as a police and military problem. The language will be the language of weapons.

The results of the government’s management of the internal armed conflict would affect support for consultation

Undoubtedly, it was essential to change the actions of the government, which until now had only been of a defensive nature. It is correct to assume that there is an internal armed conflict (but talks between warring non-state actors continue to create noise). However, this is only part of the solution to the problem, and not the most important one. In the fight against insecurity and crime, Rambo’s vision prevailed, which in the political sense has already become a current (Bukelism). In addition to the importance of the use of legitimate state force, which is expressed in the modernization of law enforcement forces, equipment and distribution of resources, it is necessary to take into account that this problem has three additional faces and more important than the violent one. gangs. Those faces are justice, economy and politics. The networks woven by international cartel bosses running billion-dollar businesses have penetrated these spaces, requiring us to set our sights higher than the gaze of local leaders.

The hardest hit for the bosses and their political operators is the one in the pocket.

In the field of justice, the efforts of the police and the military are useless if the police stations have revolving doors that, thanks to judges working for money or water, guarantee the immediate exit of criminals. There are a lot of things that need to be fixed in this field that require everything from constitutional reforms to the possibility of having extraterritorial prosecutors and judges far from the reach of the mafia. The desired extradition of criminals may be part of this field, but it depends on the request of other countries. With a broader vision, coordination is needed with the countries receiving the drug, which are some European ones, such as Spain, the Netherlands, Italy or Belgium.

Daniel Noboa, President of Ecuador in an interview with the BBC: “Every day we fight not to become a narco-state”

Until drug use is legalized worldwide, the most important activity of this war is to obtain information about the flow of money. The enormous profitability of this business leads them to place illegally acquired funds in the formal economy, that is, to launder them. Therefore, it is necessary to identify their links, not only economic, but above all political. In addition to the financial sector, which is subject to fairly effective controls (although there are many tasks that can bypass them), sectors such as real estate, construction, mining, agriculture and trade are easily permeated. This is where the cooperation of politicians appears, which must be the fundamental goal of the struggle. All this requires an effective intelligence system. The hardest hit for the bosses and their political operators is the one in the pocket. (OR)