Enablers of Cocaine Trafficking: Evidence of the State-Crime Nexus from Contemporary Honduras
<p>Honduras has been Central America’s focal point for drug trafficking towards the United States for years as the region’s main transit country. Recent court cases held in the United States have revealed the symbiotic relationship between state actors, business elites and drug trafficking org...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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LSE Press
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Illicit Economies and Development |
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| Online Access: | https://jied.lse.ac.uk/articles/96 |
| _version_ | 1797961731678404608 |
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| author | Emilia Ziosi |
| author_facet | Emilia Ziosi |
| author_sort | Emilia Ziosi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>Honduras has been Central America’s focal point for drug trafficking towards the United States for years as the region’s main transit country. Recent court cases held in the United States have revealed the symbiotic relationship between state actors, business elites and drug trafficking organisations in contemporary Honduras, uncovering the blurred boundaries between the licit and illicit, the upper and underworld in the country. In this article, a drug-trafficking family – ‘Los Cachiros’ <em>transportista</em> (transport) group – is analysed as a case study with the aim of exploring state actors’ involvement in cocaine trafficking.</p><p>Drawing on publicly available official judicial documents, this article explores the interpenetrations between formal and informal institutions in the country, arguing that state actors’ involvement in the drug trade in Honduras goes far beyond protection, and has evolved into a powerful network of public, private and criminal actors that has been able to capture the state’s basic sovereign functions with the aim of protecting and promoting their own private interests. In doing so, this article takes forward the state-crime nexus literature. Building on Hall’s (2018) networked approach in the study of illicit economies, this article proposes a conceptual framework to re-theorise the state-crime nexus as a transnationally networked set of relations, which considers the role of external states as actors of power within a country’s state-crime nexus. Looking at the unique relationship between Honduras and the United States, I argue that the concept is useful to understand the role of the United States as a transnational actor of power within the Honduran state-crime nexus.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T01:02:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b38ecf34e163410488b4143da92eef3e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2516-7227 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T01:02:19Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | LSE Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Illicit Economies and Development |
| spelling | doaj.art-b38ecf34e163410488b4143da92eef3e2023-01-04T15:01:02ZengLSE PressJournal of Illicit Economies and Development2516-72272022-12-014210.31389/jied.9698Enablers of Cocaine Trafficking: Evidence of the State-Crime Nexus from Contemporary HondurasEmilia Ziosi0University of Milan, IT; Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) at the School of Advanced Study, University of London<p>Honduras has been Central America’s focal point for drug trafficking towards the United States for years as the region’s main transit country. Recent court cases held in the United States have revealed the symbiotic relationship between state actors, business elites and drug trafficking organisations in contemporary Honduras, uncovering the blurred boundaries between the licit and illicit, the upper and underworld in the country. In this article, a drug-trafficking family – ‘Los Cachiros’ <em>transportista</em> (transport) group – is analysed as a case study with the aim of exploring state actors’ involvement in cocaine trafficking.</p><p>Drawing on publicly available official judicial documents, this article explores the interpenetrations between formal and informal institutions in the country, arguing that state actors’ involvement in the drug trade in Honduras goes far beyond protection, and has evolved into a powerful network of public, private and criminal actors that has been able to capture the state’s basic sovereign functions with the aim of protecting and promoting their own private interests. In doing so, this article takes forward the state-crime nexus literature. Building on Hall’s (2018) networked approach in the study of illicit economies, this article proposes a conceptual framework to re-theorise the state-crime nexus as a transnationally networked set of relations, which considers the role of external states as actors of power within a country’s state-crime nexus. Looking at the unique relationship between Honduras and the United States, I argue that the concept is useful to understand the role of the United States as a transnational actor of power within the Honduran state-crime nexus.</p>https://jied.lse.ac.uk/articles/96hondurasstate-crime nexusdrug traffickingcentral americahybrid governancestate capture |
| spellingShingle | Emilia Ziosi Enablers of Cocaine Trafficking: Evidence of the State-Crime Nexus from Contemporary Honduras Journal of Illicit Economies and Development honduras state-crime nexus drug trafficking central america hybrid governance state capture |
| title | Enablers of Cocaine Trafficking: Evidence of the State-Crime Nexus from Contemporary Honduras |
| title_full | Enablers of Cocaine Trafficking: Evidence of the State-Crime Nexus from Contemporary Honduras |
| title_fullStr | Enablers of Cocaine Trafficking: Evidence of the State-Crime Nexus from Contemporary Honduras |
| title_full_unstemmed | Enablers of Cocaine Trafficking: Evidence of the State-Crime Nexus from Contemporary Honduras |
| title_short | Enablers of Cocaine Trafficking: Evidence of the State-Crime Nexus from Contemporary Honduras |
| title_sort | enablers of cocaine trafficking evidence of the state crime nexus from contemporary honduras |
| topic | honduras state-crime nexus drug trafficking central america hybrid governance state capture |
| url | https://jied.lse.ac.uk/articles/96 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT emiliaziosi enablersofcocainetraffickingevidenceofthestatecrimenexusfromcontemporaryhonduras |