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Oct. 30 (UPI) — President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has signed a new law that increases penalties and expands enforcement tools to combat organized crime in Brazil amid growing concern over violence in states such as Rio de Janeiro.

The measure, published Thursday in the Diário Oficial, imposes harsher penalties on those who obstruct investigations or collaborate with criminal organizations and provides greater protection for judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers involved in such operations.

The legislation, which amends the Penal Code and the 2013 Law on Criminal Organizations, sets prison terms of up to 12 years for anyone who interferes with judicial proceedings or intimidates authorities. It also requires those convicted of these crimes to serve their sentences in federal maximum-security prisons.

The Brazilian government says the law strengthens the state’s ability to confront factions such as Comando Vermelho and Primeiro Comando da Capital, which are responsible for much of the country’s urban violence.

“We will not allow organized crime to continue oppressing communities and defying the Brazilian state,” Lula said during the signing ceremony at the Planalto Palace, according to Correio Braziliense.

The law’s enactment comes two days after a large-scale operation in the state of Rio de Janeiro targeting the Comando Vermelho faction, which reignited debate over urban violence and the use of force in the favelas.

Early Tuesday morning, security forces entered the Penha and Alemão favela complexes with armored vehicles, helicopters and drones. Criminal gangs responded by blocking streets, setting vehicles on fire to use as barricades and dropping explosives from drones.

The confrontation left 113 people arrested, 71 rifles seized and 121 dead, according to updated figures from Rio de Janeiro’s Public Defender’s Office. Among the dead were four police officers and dozens of suspected criminals.

The incident sparked concern within Brazil’s federal government and several states, where officials warned about the growing power of criminal organizations and the need for a coordinated response to contain their expansion.

Rio de Janeiro Gov. Cláudio Castro ordered increased patrols across the state amid fears of reprisals.

In a post on X, Castro said the Combat Operations Regiment — an elite unit that specializes in operations against organized crime, particularly in favelas and high-risk areas — had intensified police patrols along the Linha Amarela, one of Rio’s main urban highways connecting northern and western districts with the airport and other strategic areas.

The situation in Brazil also raised alarms in Argentina.

Argentina’s Security Minister Patricia Bullrich announced a “maximum alert” along the tri-border area shared with Brazil and Paraguay. She said migration controls would be tightened and surveillance increased to prevent members of the Comando Vermelho from crossing into the country.

“I will impose a maximum alert at the borders to ensure there is no crossing or passage by those who are evidently moving because of the conflict centered in Rio,” Bullrich told reporters at the presidential palace, according to Perfil.

June 27 (UPI) — Latin America and the Caribbean rank among the regions with the highest rates of criminal activity worldwide, marked by a strong presence of illicit markets and limited institutional capacity to combat them.

Organized crime has become one of the biggest obstacles to economic development in the region, according to a World Bank report. The report points to four main drivers: territorial control, criminal governance, institutional capture and systemic violence.

In addition to producing and consuming large quantities of cocaine, Latin American criminal groups play a central role in trafficking the drug to the United States and the European Union. These networks are tightly linked to criminal organizations around the world and have a significant impact on the region’s economy, according to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, or GI-TOC.

Although the region makes up just 9% of the world’s population, it accounts for about one-third of global homicides, with rates up to eight times higher than the global average. Twelve Latin American countries are among the 50 most affected by organized crime, according to GI-TOC.

A study by the Inter-American Development Bank, led by Argentine researcher Santiago Pérez-Vicent, estimates that criminal organizations cause economic losses equal to 3.5% of the region’s gross domestic product. That figure represents 78% of the regional education budget, twice the amount spent on social assistance and 12 times the investment in research and development.

Colombia, Peru and Bolivia dominate global cocaine production, while Mexico, Brazil and several Central American countries serve as key transit and distribution routes to major consumer markets in North America and Europe.

Cocaine’s impact in Latin America goes beyond the global illicit economy, fueling violent clashes among rival cartels across the region.

In Mexico, about 30,000 teenagers are involved in organized crime, according to the Legal Research Institute at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. They engage in 22 types of criminal activity, including drug trafficking and kidnapping, with many recruited as hitmen due to their age and vulnerability.

Alongside major cartels in Colombia and Mexico, new groups have emerged, including Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and Brazil’s Primeiro Comando da Capital, or PCC. These organizations have developed new strategies to traffic drugs — including substances beyond cocaine — into the United States and the European Union.

Experts and international organizations say organized crime in the region has evolved significantly. Fragmented and diversified networks are expanding through alliances with foreign groups, including Albanian and Italian mafias.

While most governments in the region focus on combating drug trafficking, cocaine production is only one part of a broader criminal economy. According to The Evolution of Organized Crime in Latin America, a report by researchers Lucía Dammert and Carolina Sampó, organized crime also drives illegal mining, migrant smuggling and human trafficking — activities that severely impact communities and threaten regional and global security.

Illicit activities have expanded into markets with direct human impact, including logging, livestock operations, the cultivation of prohibited plant species and large-scale illegal and unregulated fishing, according to the report.

“Human and arms trafficking, prostitution, the spread of synthetic drugs, counterfeit pharmaceuticals, contract killings and illegal mining — which in countries like Peru and Colombia generate as much or more revenue than drug trafficking — are among the criminal enterprises that have taken hold,” said Pablo Zeballos, a former intelligence officer and international organized crime consultant, in an interview with the BBC.

In recent years, several Latin American countries that were once relatively free of gang-led violence have experienced growing insecurity, violence and lawlessness.

Organized crime has shaped life in places like Mexico, Colombia and Brazil for decades, said Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, in a podcast for Americas Quarterly. “Now, historically more peaceful countries such as Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay are starting to experience rising levels of violence,” he added.

The expansion of organized crime in Latin America has been driven by a lack of effective coordination among regional governments, limiting joint responses to transnational threats such as drug trafficking, arms smuggling and human trafficking, according to reports from GI-TOC and InSight Crime.

This structural weakness is compounded by the steady erosion of institutions in several countries, marked by high levels of corruption, impunity and limited operational capacity within law enforcement.

Together, these conditions have created power vacuums that criminal groups exploit to establish sophisticated networks of territorial control, infiltrate legal economies and overwhelm national response systems.

SANTIAGO, Chile, June 16 (UPI) — President Daniel Noboa’s administration won legislative approval for two key laws aimed at strengthening its response to rising organized crime and violence in Ecuador.

However, the limited debate surrounding the passage of the Intelligence Law and the National Solidarity Law has drawn criticism.

Noboa has defended both laws as essential tools to fight drug trafficking, but some legal experts disagree with the measures.

“Even if Noboa’s actions are well-intentioned, both laws must be reviewed to ensure the fight against drug trafficking doesn’t violate the Constitution,” legal expert Pablo Encalada said.

The Intelligence Law aims to combat organized crime, protect civilians and support economic recovery in violence-plagued areas.

But Ana Belén Cordero, Ecuador’s former secretary for Anti-Corruption Public Policy, called the law authoritarian.

“It violates every principle of the rule of law by granting enormous power to the head of the intelligence system, bypassing prosecutors and judges,” she said.

The new law also would expand the authority of the Strategic Intelligence Center, or CIES, allowing it to collect personal data, conduct wiretaps and carry out raids without a court order.

The National Solidarity Law would create a legal framework for Ecuador’s national intelligence and counterintelligence system. It allows funds seized from drug traffickers to be transferred to security forces without oversight or reporting requirements.

“It makes sense for the state to have confidential funds for intelligence operations, but there must be accountability to the National Assembly on how those resources are used,” Cordero said.

The law would allow security forces to receive real estate, equipment and other contributions from domestic or international organizations. Donors would be eligible for tax breaks.

“This opens the door to massive leaks of both public and private funds,” said Luis Córdova, a researcher at the Ecuadorian Conflict Observatory (Llamas), in an interview with local outlet Primicia.

He also raised concerns about a proposal to increase penalties for juvenile offenders.

While Cordero acknowledged the need to address youth involvement in crime, she argued that minors should not face the same penalties as adults. She emphasized that the state’s absence in the country’s poorest areas drives many young people to join drug gangs.

Because the Intelligence Law has faced criticism from human rights organizations, which argue it violates constitutional protections, it must be reviewed by Ecuador’s Constitutional Court before it can take effect.

In 2024, Ecuador recorded an average of 38 homicides per 100,000 people — the highest rate in Latin America, according to Insight Crime and other sources.