HomeNewsBriefSmugglers Infiltrate 20 Bolivian Border Villages: Customs
BRIEF

Smugglers Infiltrate 20 Bolivian Border Villages: Customs

BOLIVIA / 6 MAR 2013 BY JAMES BARGENT EN

Smuggling rings operate in approximately 20 villages in the Bolivian border region, according to the Bolivian customs agency, underlining how deep the black market economy runs and how difficult it will be to uproot.

In an interview with local press, President of Bolivian Customs (Aduana Nacional) Marlene Arday said villages near the Bolivian borders with Chile and Paraguay are used by smugglers transporting contraband items such as whisky and cigarettes.

According to Arday, smugglers buy community support by financing community projects and in many areas operate with the complicity of corrupt local authorities.

The communities vigorously oppose attempts to control smuggling and members even launch attacks against customs officials, Arday said. She also accused smugglers of using women and children as human shields in confrontation with customs officials.

The agency's ability to control the trade is sorely hampered by legal restrictions, according to Arday. Even in areas renowned for smuggling, officials can only act if they have received a complaint.

InSight Crime Analysis

Smuggling is a long-time tradition in many parts of Latin America, especially in areas where disparate economies share a border, and where illegal actors have more purview and access to goods. 

Bolivia is no exception, in particular near its porous border with Paraguay, which has also been flagged for an area where Brazilian organized crime has taken hold. As well as items such as contraband cigarettes, Bolivian smugglers transport stolen cars and gasoline, which is much cheaper in Bolivia due to state subsidies.

The situation highlighted by Arday also demonstrates the difficulty in tackling smuggling in isolated regions where it is often one of the principal economic activities.

Any attempts by customs officials to tackle smuggling are likely to be fiercely opposed not only by criminal groups but by whole communities who recieve more financing from smuggling than from the state or the legal economy. 

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

ARGENTINA / 25 OCT 2022

Bolivia's cocaine trade is on the up. Originally a coca leaf cultivator, Bolivia has moved to cocaine production.

CIACS / 21 JUN 2023

Guatemala's political landscape is dominated by corrupt elites that have ensured impunity for themselves and their allies.

BOLIVIA / 8 NOV 2022

The Amazon is one of the world’s most biodiverse regions, where wildlife trafficking threatens hundreds of thousands of species.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…