UNODC warns of mafias and transnational crime active in Bolivia
The director of Operations at UNODC, Bo Mathiasen, warned that foreign and local criminal structures operate in Bolivia combining drug trafficking, human trafficking and illegal mining.
Transnational mafias operate in Bolivia with drug trafficking, trafficking and illegal mining, warns the UN
According to reduno.com.bo, Bo Mathiasen, director of the Operations Division of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), warned during a visit to the country that Bolivia is going through a critical moment in the face of the expansion of criminal structures both foreign and local.
"Yes there is, obviously, there are mafias and there are connections with transnational organised crime, they operate in Bolivia too, we have to take that into account," Mathiasen stated.
The senior official clarified that Bolivia does not act solely as a transit corridor for controlled substances, but there is clear evidence of drug production in national territory.
Mathiasen described a multi-crime operating scheme through which the networks diversify their sources of financing and influence. "There is a confluence of crimes among transnational groups, where they are not only doing drug trafficking, but human trafficking and illegal gold mining, for example, and where they are doing money laundering," he detailed.
The UNODC representative also stressed the institutional impact of these organisations, noting that their economic capacity and pressure undermine democratic pillars and public order. "Furthermore, they are involving the State's institutions in corruption and are destabilising society," he pointed out.
The statements were made in the context of the presentation of the Coca Crop Monitoring Report 2025, which revealed a cultivated area of 36,400 hectares, a figure that exceeds by 14,400 hectares the legal limit established by Bolivian legislation.
In this scenario, Mathiasen urged governments in the region to consolidate a joint strategy and firm institutional cooperation to curb the advance of organised crime in South America.
Source: Google News BO — Crime