CHAPTER 5

Networks Replace Cartels in Cocaine Trade

In 2024, cocaine trafficking has reached unprecedented levels, with criminal organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean shifting from traditional hierarchies to resilient, modular networks that are harder to dismantle. This structure, marked by the increasing use of emissaries and encrypted communication, has allowed cocaine to flow steadily across the globe. From Latin America to Europe, groups like the PCC and the ‘Ndrangheta are driving the trade forward, adapting quickly to law enforcement pressure.

Read our latest analysis to explore the mechanisms behind these networks and how authorities can combat them. 

This is the fifth installment of our annual Criminal GameChangers 2024 series. Over the following weeks, we will publish essays providing our unique expert analysis of the most important dynamics of 2024, and our predictions of challenges ahead in 2025.

🎙️ Don’t miss our donor - exclusive event

To conclude the publication of the series, and as part of our annual fundraising campaign, we invite you to attend a virtual panel in English, where we will talk with some of our most experienced researchers in the field about their most important findings, and their  challenges and predictions about security and crime in 2025.

Forthcoming publications

1 - Resistance to Organized Crime Withers

2 - Crime Cashes in on Migration Boom

3 - Ecuador Finds Victory Elusive in ‘War on Gangs’

4 - Organized Crime Gets Political

5 - Networks Replace Cartels in Cocaine Trade

6 - Narco Money Scandals Reach the Apex of Political Power in the Americas - Jan 03

7 - Global Cocaine Networks and Trump 2 - Jan 06

Regards, 
The InSight Crime Team