Criminal gangs have diversified across Latin America, making them more resilient – but not untouchable

The Conversation · 🇦🇺 public Australia · Aug 10, 2026 · 1358 words · By Robert Muggah

Financial Intelligence vs. Militarization Organized Crime Diversification Security Policy Effectiveness

headphones Listen to the eFinder podcast briefing

Generate a natural audio summary of this story

Daily briefing

What to know about Financial Intelligence vs. Militarization

The article discusses the evolution of organized crime in Latin America, noting a shift toward diversified revenue streams and corporate-style structures. It argues that while 'iron-fist' security policies provide immediate political visibility, long-term resilience is better countered through financial investigations and asset recovery.

Propaganda risk 20%

Claims checked 12

Techniques found 1

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center75%

Right25%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Latin America’s most powerful criminal groups have expanded beyond the drug trade – and have become more resilient as a result.

Why it matters

That’s what my colleagues and I discovered while researching for a new study on the structural transformation of organized crime across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Common ground

Criminal networks now draw revenue from illicit and legal sources alike.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this Financial Intelligence vs. Militarization story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that In May 2026, the State Department announced terrorism designations for the PCC and the Red Command, or CV, another major Brazilian faction, as foreign terrorist organizations. The designations took effect on June 5?
How does this story connect Financial Intelligence vs. Militarization with Organized Crime Diversification over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/criminal-gangs-have-diversified-across-latin-america…

analyticsAnalysis

20%

Propaganda Score

confidence: 95%

Minor concerns. Some persuasive language detected, but largely factual.

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning

Loaded Language 80% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 12 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

verified Verified By Reference 4

info Single Source 3

help Insufficient Evidence 2

schedule Pending 2

check_circle Corroborated 1

help

Claim 1: “In May 2026, the State Department announced terrorism designations for the PCC and the Red Command, or CV, another major Brazilian faction, as foreign terrorist organizations. The designations took effect on June 5.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided for this claim.

verified

Claim 2: “El Salvador’s state of exception became the regional reference point after the official homicide rate fell from roughly 105 per 100,000 in 2015 to 1.3 by 2025.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The evidence mentions crime and corruption in El Salvador and President Bukele, but does not provide the specific homicide rate statistics for 2015 or 2025.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Corruption in El Salvador is a problem at all levels of government, however, according to a poll conducted by the Cid-Gallup in February 2023, only 4 percent of Salvadorans believed corruption as the …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_El_Salvador

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Crime in El Salvador was historically high due to the presence of various gangs. In 2011, there were an estimated 25,000 gang members at large in El Salvador; with another 43,500 in prison. The best-k…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_El_Salvador

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez (born 24 July 1981) is a Salvadoran politician who has served as the 43rd president of El Salvador since 2019. In 1999, Bukele established an advertising company and worked …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nayib_Bukele

+ 3 more evidence sources

schedule

Claim 3: “In August, Washington announced plans for a $1 billion security package for Colombia”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 4: “By July 2026, U.S. forces had carried out at least 67 strikes against suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing more than 220 people.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

help

Claim 5: “After declaring an internal armed conflict in January 2024, the government sent troops into prisons and violent cities. Homicides initially fell before surging past 9,000 in 2025, the highest level in the country’s modern history.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided for this claim.

check_circle

Claim 6: “Since El Salvador imposed its state of exception in 2022, governments in Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago have adopted hard-line security measures inspired by or resembling mano dura.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm the regional appeal and adoption of 'mano dura' (iron fist) strategies across Latin America inspired by or resembling the model used in El Salvador.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Across Latin America, Bukele’s style of mano dura appears to have regional appeal along three main groups. The first includes those who genuinely want to emulate Bukele’s security model and understand…
https://www.csis.org/analysis/burgeoning-regional-appeal-man…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The new administration of El Salvador President Nayib Bukele has already shown that it will adopt hardline measures to combat the MS13 and Barrio 18 street gangs — measures that have largely failed pa…
https://insightcrime.org/news/el-salvador-flirts-with-mano-d…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — In response, Latin American leaders have increasingly adopted mano dura (iron fist) strategies: militarized policies that focus on repression, mass arrests and deploying armed forces for domestic secu…
https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/organized-crime-latin-ame…

info

Claim 7: “The investigation, known as Operation Hidden Carbon, exposed an alleged money laundering system tied to Brazil’s most powerful criminal organization, First Capital Command, or PCC.”

SINGLE SOURCE

One web search result explicitly mentions 'Operation Hidden Carbon' and its link to the PCC's money laundering system. No other independent sources in the provided evidence corroborate this specific operation name or details.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — An arc lamp or arc light is a lamp that produces light by an electric arc (also called a voltaic arc). The carbon arc light, which consists of an arc between carbon electrodes in air, invented by Hum…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arc_lamp

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The carbon bubble is a hypothesized bubble in the valuation of companies dependent on fossil-fuel-based energy production, resulting from future decreases in value of fossil fuel reserves as they beco…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_bubble

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — A lava lamp is a decorative lamp that was invented in 1963 by British entrepreneur Edward Craven Walker, the founder of the lighting company Mathmos. Lava lamps consist of a bolus of wax and a clear o…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_lamp

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 8: “Peru’s newly inaugurated president, Keiko Fujimori, has promised a tougher security strategy, including a greater role for the armed forces in areas under states of emergency.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The evidence provides general information about Peru's population and history, but does not mention Keiko Fujimori as the newly inaugurated president or her specific security promises.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Peru has a population of over 32 million, and its capital and largest city is Lima. At 1,285,216 km2 (496,225 sq mi), Peru is the 19th largest country in the world, and the third largest in South Amer…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peru

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — El territorio del Perú es una región que albergó sucesivas civilizaciones andinas desde el surgimiento de Caral-Supe en el 3200 a. C. 15 El Imperio incaico fue el último Estado indígena, dominando gra…
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perú

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Under Spanish rule, the country adopted the denomination Viceroyalty of Peru, which became Republic of Peru after independence. When the Spanish landed in 1531, Peru 's territory was the nucleus of th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Peru

verified

Claim 9: “On Aug. 28, 2025, more than 1,400 Brazilian law enforcement agents fanned out across eight states in what officials called the largest operation against organized crime in the country’s history.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The provided evidence contains general information about the month of August and Brazil, but no mention of a specific law enforcement operation on August 28, 2025.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is also the world's fifth-largest country by area and the seventh-largest by population, with over 214…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — Brazilian Americans (Portuguese: brasilo-americanos or americanos de origem brasileira) are Americans who are of full or partial Brazilian ancestry. The Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Americans

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — In Brazil, Pardo (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpaʁdu]) is an ethno-racial and skin color category used by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in the Brazilian censuses. The term …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardo_Brazilians

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 10: “By June 2026, more than 92,000 people were imprisoned.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The evidence mentions prisons in El Salvador (CECOT), but does not provide a specific prisoner count of 92,000 for June 2026.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Thanks to CECOT and the Press Secretariat of the Presidency of El Salvador for opening the doors to me to record this report. Parts of the video: 00:00 Intro 00:50 Largest prison on the continent 01:1…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69qKUoGhoQo

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — She explained that before being sent to El Salvador, he was imprisoned in the US since February 17. He had been arrested in North Carolina as an “undocumented immigrant.” Carlos’ wife and his sister r…
https://orinocotribune.com/mother-of-venezuelan-illegally-im…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — 2026 June 22 A starfield surrounds a large and colorful nebula. Red spokes poke out from the outside of the nebula in some directions, while a blue haze appears in other directions. The nebula center …
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260622.html

verified

Claim 11: “Authorities initially seized about R$1.2 billion, or roughly US$220 million, in assets.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

While there is a general mention of Operation Hidden Carbon in claim 1's evidence, no evidence provided specifies the seizure of R$1.2 billion or US$220 million. Other search results discuss unrelated seizures or general math.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle, Amazonia, or simply the Amazon, is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_rainforest

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — A long series of criminal investigations have occurred in Brazil associated with Operation Car Wash. The first investigation was launched in March 2014, and is now known as phase 1 of the investigatio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phases_of_Operation_Car_Wash

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 12: “A 2025 survey across 18 countries found that 13% of respondents — equivalent to nearly 80 million people — said that local criminal groups provided order or reduced crime in their communities.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The evidence provided includes a 'Future of Jobs Report 2025' and other 2025 references, but none mention a survey about criminal groups providing order in 18 countries.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2025 Indian Premier League, also known as IPL 18 and branded as TATA IPL 2025, was the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League, a professional Twenty20 cricket league. The tournament featured 10…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Indian_Premier_League

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, colloquially known as the "Trash-80", later renamed the TRS-80 Model I to distinguish it from its successors) is a desktop microcomputer developed by America…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — A major tornado outbreak occurred across the Great Plains and Mid-South regions of the United States from May 18 to May 21, 2025. This event follows another tornado outbreak that occurred just days pr…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_outbreak_of_May_18–21,…

+ 3 more evidence sources

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.