Elections and Organized Crime

Organized crime has long played a role in elections across Latin America and the Caribbean, from financing  political campaigns to influencing local governance, voter participation, and state institutions through corruption, coercion, and violence. Tracking and understanding these dynamics is critical to explaining how criminal groups build political capital and how democratic institutions are weakened over time.

For the last 15 years, InSight Crime has covered the relationship between organized crime and politics across the Americas. In Honduras, we broke the explosive narcovideo story that showed Carlos Zelaya, the brother-in-law of former President Xiomara Castro, negotiating bribes with several high-profile drug traffickers during Castro’s 2013 presidential campaign. In Guatemala, we have measured political risk and mapped the corruption and power networks that have shaped recent election cycles. We have also reported on how organized crime groups in Mexico and pro-government armed groups  in Venezuela have used violence and intimidation to influence voting and maintain political control. 

Below, you can find all of our coverage of elections and organized crime, separated by country. 

Browse by Country

Colombia’s powerful armed groups exert extensive control over territories and communities, shaping elections and influencing local politicians. For years, we  have analyzed the security dynamics and policies shaping the country’s political landscape.

Organized crime was one of the main concerns in Ecuador’s last election. As an unprecedented wave of gang violence swept across the country, Daniel Noboa campaigned, and won, on a promise to use hardline policies against criminal groups.

Corruption has been the primary concern in Guatemala’s recent elections, with organized crime groups influencing votes by buying candidates, and powerful elites using institutions to exclude competitors and cling to power. 

Narcopolitics reigns in Honduras, where drug trafficking groups have funded political campaigns from the lowest to the highest echelons of politics. Here, we investigate the deep ties between elites and organized crime, and the rise and fall of Honduras’ most powerful actors.

In Mexico, transnational criminal groups dominate many aspects of daily life. During election periods, these groups impose control by using violence to intimidate, influence, and eliminate candidates that refuse to negotiate with them. 

Peru’s politics have been riddled with scandals in recent years, with ties to drug trafficking and corruption cases forcing several politicians to resign. These crises reveal how deeply corruption and organized crime  have influenced Peru’s political system.

In Venezuela, the line between government and criminal interests is blurred, with state institutions coordinating and cooperating with criminal groups in search of money and power. Pro-government armed groups control elections in exchange for impunity, and state actors dabble in criminal economies for personal benefit.  

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