ABSTRACT
Armed conflict in the Americas is internal in nature and mostly driven by criminal dynamics around the control of lucrative illicit economies, with multiple non-state armed groups fighting against one another and the state. National criminal groups are connected across the region along drug supply chains which stretch from production to final markets in the Americas. These domestic and regional dynamics have been increasingly accompanied by global spillovers, as criminal groups progressively extend their international reach, networks and operations in response to shifting profit margins and trends in international demand. Since the 1990s, drug trafficking has become the core of criminal violence and illicit economies. Proceeds from narco-trafficking, mostly of cocaine, sustain the increasing military capability of criminal groups to confront state forces and fight one another for control over drug production and lucrative drug routes across the region and to the main markets.
