UNODC warns: Bolivia has mafias and links to transnational organised crime
The director of Operations at UNODC, Bo Mathiasen, warned that mafias with transnational connections operate in Bolivia. The country registered 14,400 illegal hectares of coca in 2025.
Bolivia, cocaine corridor with presence of transnational organised crime
The director of the Operations Division of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Bo Mathiasen, arrived in Bolivia and issued a direct warning: in the country "there are mafias and connections with transnational organised crime". This was reported by unitel.bo following a brief contact by the official with the press.
"Yes, there obviously is, there are mafias and there are connections with transnational organised crime, they operate in Bolivia too, we need to take that into account," Mathiasen stated.
The visit occurred following the presentation of the 23rd Report on Coca Cultivation Monitoring in Bolivia 2025, a document in which UNODC recorded 14,400 hectares of illicit cultivation during that year, an increase of 7 per cent compared to the previous period.
Mathiasen also noted that Bolivia functions as "a transit corridor for cocaine" and that there is evidence of drug production within national territory.
Hours before that contact with the press, the official had warned that Bolivia and the region face a complex situation in the face of the expansion of organised crime and drug trafficking networks.
"There is a convergence of crimes among transnational groups, where they are not only engaging in drug trafficking, but also human trafficking and illegal gold mining, for example, and where they are engaging in money laundering," he detailed.
Mathiasen added that these groups are involving State institutions in acts of corruption and "destabilising society", according to statements offered to the state channel.
Source: Google News BO — Crime