HomeNewsAnalysisOp-Ed: Organized Crime Tightens its Grip on Venezuela

Juan Guaidó tried to bluff Nicólas Maduro at the Venezuelan political poker table, pretending he had the enough of the military in his hand to take the pot. He failed, and serious, long-term criminal consequences will now be felt.

The military may be the principal powerbroker in the country, but many elements within its ranks and at the highest levels are now beholden to organized crime, along with the political and economic elites.

*This article was originally published by Semana and was reprinted by InSight Crime with permission.

While Maduro has run the economy into the ground and created a humanitarian crisis seldom seen in nations not in the grip of war, for organized crime, he remains an ideal president. He not only allows organized crime to flourish, but there are now parts of the state that protect and run it. Organized crime will do everything in its power to see him stay in office, or at best transfer power to another friendly and similarly compromised leader.

SEE ALSO: The Eight Criminal Armies Supporting Venezuela's Maduro Administration

The roots of the current crisis lay with the now dead president Hugo Chávez, but under Maduro organized crime has managed to tighten its grip on many state institutions. With the failure of the recent uprising, that grip could become a stranglehold for the following reasons:

  1. With tightening international sanctions, the government is going to rely more and more on criminal income to stay afloat. This will come from illegal gold mining, fuel smuggling and cocaine trafficking.
  2. The actors that control these criminal economies, which include elements of the military and Colombian illegal groups, will gain an even greater voice in the direction of the country.
  3. Politically weakened by the latest attempt to overthrow him, Maduro is going to rely yet more on aligned criminal forces to repress opposition and protect him. These include not only the security forces, but the infamous “colectivos,” most of whom maintain a political façade to camouflage criminal activity like extortion, kidnapping and microtrafficking of drugs. Even the prison syndicates or pranes and the megabandas enjoy political protection and patronage that they will not want to lose. Foreign criminal groups like the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional - ELN) and the ex-FARC Mafia (with roots in the now demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – FARC) are also playing an increasingly important role in propping up the current regime, even as they deepen their roots, infrastructure and recruitment within Venezuela.

For these reasons, organized crime will not only sink its claws deeper into the Venezuelan state, but continue to gain more political and social legitimacy. Colombia understands this dynamic perfectly, with organized crime having created, or hijacked, organizations like the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia – AUC) or the FARC, and now ELN. A political façade allows organized crime to recruit, seduce or win over local communities and assume state functions (dispensing justice, dressing up extortion as “taxes”, etc.)

Part of this political façade in Venezuela is bound up in anti-US rhetoric. For more than 20 years, the Bolivarian Revolution has espoused anti-imperialist and anti-American propaganda. Love him or hate him, Guaidó has undeniable ties to the United States, and the constant talk of US military intervention simply strengthens the oft-repeated notion that the United States, using Colombia as a proxy, wants to seize control of Venezuela’s oil wealth.

SEE ALSO: Venezuela News and Profile

Organized crime does not want to see a government take power that will not only refuse to protect its operations, but possibly work with Washington DC to close it down.

Organized crime as is now one of the principal obstacles to a peaceful political transition in Venezuela, as it now controls much of the existing regime. If it cannot keep Maduro in power, or replace him with a similar figure (Diosdado Cabello for example), who protects, facilitates and gives legitimacy to its operations, then it may prefer to see Venezuela descend into civil conflict rather than allow a US-friendly president into power. And Colombia knows how organized crime can live like a parasite off civil conflict, and how hard it is to find peace after the shooting starts.

*This article was originally published by Semana and was reprinted by InSight Crime with permission.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

COLOMBIA / 21 FEB 2022

Three retired Colombian army commanders have been accused of belonging to a criminal network that served the Urabeños drug clan,…

ARGENTINA / 19 NOV 2021

Once the purview of Mexican drug cartels, the production of pro-gang songs that soothe the egos of powerful criminal overlords…

COLOMBIA / 4 AUG 2022

Alejandra Miller of Colombia’s Truth Commission explained why women and LGBTIQ+ persons were disproportionately affected by the armed conflict.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

All Eyes on Ecuador

2 JUN 2023

Our coverage of organized crime in Ecuador continues to be a valuable resource for international and local news outlets. Internationally, Reuters cited our 2022 Homicide Round-Up,…

WORK WITH US

Open Position: Social Media and Engagement Strategist

27 MAY 2023

InSight Crime is looking for a Social Media and Engagement Strategist who will be focused on maintaining and improving InSight Crime’s reputation and interaction with its audiences through publishing activities…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Receives Great Reception

27 MAY 2023

Several of InSight Crime’s most recent articles about Venezuela have been well received by regional media. Our article on Venezuela’s colectivos expanding beyond their political role to control access to…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report Continues

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.