Bolivia plans crackdown on cars-for-cocaine trade
鈥� researches, analyzes, and investigates organized crime in the Americas. Find all of Geoffrey Ramsey's
The Bolivian government has vowed to crack down on the thriving trade in vehicles stolen in neighboring countries and trafficked into Bolivia, which is a major source of funding for criminal groups in the region.
On Oct. 17, the head of Bolivia鈥檚 anti-auto theft office, Jorge Saravia, that the country was coordinating a 鈥渕ega-operation鈥� with Argentina, Chile, and Brazil to crack down on transnational automobile theft.
"We are working to address the problem and deepen the fight against transnational mafias who steal vehicles in those countries and have connections with other criminal organizations," Mr. Saravia said. He added that he would meet with Argentine officials in the coming days to work out the plan.
Although the official did not elaborate on the details of this proposed international operation, he later announced that law enforcement officials in Bolivia would conduct a to seize cars with unregistered or copycat license plates in the country.
Bolivia has become a hub of transnational car theft in South America in recent years, a development which was only made worse by the government鈥檚 decision to to the owners of unregistered vehicles (many of them likely stolen)聽in June-July 2011, allowing them to pay a moderate fee to get legal documents. The amnesty had an immediate impact in neighboring countries, with officials in Chile, Brazil, and Argentina complaining that the move .
InSight Crime Analysis
The issue is about more than just transnational car thefts in the region, or even Bolivia鈥檚 lax approach to vehicle registration. It provides a window into the state of organized crime in Bolivia, where powerful crime families dominate the country's underworld, and may be forming closer transnational ties.
As , analysts believe the Bolivian crime syndicates who purchase these stolen vehicles often directly exchange cocaine for cars. According to Brazil鈥檚 former Security Minister Jose Vicente da Silva Filho, a quality car stolen in Brazil can be exchanged in Bolivia for about of the drug. and officials have also reported that car traffickers exchange the vehicles for cocaine from Bolivian groups.
While little is publicly known about the structure of the networks behind Bolivia鈥檚 thriving trade in stolen vehicles, the profile of those identified by the government as the main perpetrators of the trade seems to match the domestic drug trafficking clans. On Oct. 17, Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera that many of those responsible for the trade in stolen vehicles in the southern city of Challapata were 鈥渕ultimillionaire family networks鈥� which manage 鈥渆xtensive resources.鈥�
At the very least, the fact that vendors of stolen cars operate in the south along the borders with Chile and Argentina points to the existence of networks for moving cars and drugs within Bolivia. As a map compiled by InSight Crime indicates, most is produced in laboratories in the central highlands and the eastern department of Santa Cruz.
鈥� is a writer for Insight 鈥� Organized Crime in the Americas, which provides research, analysis, and investigation of the criminal world throughout the region. Find all of his research .
