Narco noir: Drugs, gangs and mercenaries in Latin America
In Season 2, Episode 14 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by Dr Vanda Felbab-Brown, a renowned expert on non-state armed groups and organised crime. They begin by discussing the escalation of gang violence in Haiti over the last year, despite the arrival of the American PMC, Vectus Global, which is led by the Blackwater founder Erik Prince. Vanda points out that a recent air campaign weaponizing off-the-shelf drones was intended to decapitate the gangs but, while hundreds of Haitians have been killed, none of them have been significant gang leaders. They go on to explore why governments in the region allow and coopt street militias, the bunkering of fuel by colectivos in Venezuela, Hizballah’s continuing narcotics operations across Latin America, the IRGC’s role in drug trafficking, and how the regime in Iran ends.
“Whether it’s a private security company like Vectus, or whether it’s the UN gang suppression force, they need to be able to hand over to someone. So, the institution-building requirements becomes inescapable.”
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About the podcast
Guns for Hire podcast is a production of the Atlantic Council’s North Africa Initiative. Taking Libya as its starting point, it examines the causes and implications of the increasing use of mercenaries in armed conflicts.
The podcast features guests from many walks of life, from ethicists and historians to former mercenary fighters. It seeks to understand what the normalization of contract warfare reveals about the world we currently inhabit, the future of the international system, and what war may look like in the coming decades.
Further Listening
Through our Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, the Atlantic Council works with allies and partners in Europe and the wider Middle East to protect US interests, build peace and security, and unlock the human potential of the region.
Image: A Haitian gang member waits for a U.N. peacekeeper tank to pass during clashes between Haitian rebels and U.N. peacekeepers in the volatile neighborhood of Citi-Soleil in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, November 26, 2005. Hundreds of people have died in political and gang violence since Haiti's last elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was forced from office in February 2004. A U.N. Peacekeeping mission, now comprised of some 8,000 troops and police, was sent to the poor Caribbean nation to restore order. At least 15 people have been killed in the neighborhood this month. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
