Drug Trafficking in South America beyond the Andean Block: The Argentina and Brazil Cases

Abstract

This paper is in the specific field of contemporary international security, and addresses the issue of the production, trafficking and sale of illegal drugs in South America. The usual approaches that focus on the three Andean cocaine-producer nations are left aside, in order to analyze the lesser known situation of Brazil and Argentina on this issue, thus contributing to update the state of the art in these two countries. The two nations agree on the potentiality of their market for local consumption and their introduction into the transnational drug-trafficking schemes towards oversea markets. The paper follows a deductive methodological approach and a qualitative method with descriptive and explanatory levels of analysis. The findings will highlight key elements in the situation of both countries concerning criminality; in the case of Argentina, its northern border is vulnerable to the entry of illegal drugs; in the case of Brazil, the First Command of the Capital (Primeiro Comando da Capital – PCC) is a group that raises concerning perspectives as it is becoming the most relevant criminal organization of the Southern Cone.