A circulação de ilícitos transnacionais e a consolidação da governança criminal na fronteira Letícia-Tabatinga (2019-2024)

Abstract

This study aims to understand how the intense circulation of transnational illicit flows along the Letícia-Tabatinga border contributed to the consolidation of criminal governance between 2019 and 2024. To this end, the specific objectives are to present the concepts of organized crime, non-state criminal actors, and criminal governance, as well as to describe data on drug and weapon seizures and analyze how these flows influenced the dynamics of criminal governance in the region. From a methodological perspective, the study adopts a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive approach, complemented by quantitative data through a literature review, documentary analysis, and the systematization of official data from Brazil's Federal Police and Colombia's Ministry of National Defense. The findings indicate the existence of a functional division of illicit flows along the border, with greater concentration and instability in Tabatinga and greater stability in Letícia, revealing asymmetries in the state's enforcement capacity. This context contributed to the intensification of disputes among criminal organizations throughout the period and, subsequently, to the strengthening of the Comando Vermelho's hegemony, which advanced the consolidation of forms of criminal governance by regulating illicit markets, imposing norms, and exerting influence over local dynamics. In this regard, the study indicates that the inefficiency of state action in the region played a central role in this process by reducing the state's capacity to control the border and expanding the operating conditions for non-state criminal actors, thereby confirming the study's hypothesis by demonstrating the relationship between transnational illicit flows and the consolidation of criminal governance in border contexts.