taz: Mr. Córdova-Alarcón, to what extent is the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro by the USA in the continuity of the “war on drugs” and how does it differ from it?
Luis Córdova-Alarcón: The “War on Drugs” is primarily an ideological tool to legitimize the foreign policy of the United States. That’s how it worked before, and that’s how it works this time too. The US accused Nicolás Maduro of being the leader of the criminal organization “Cartel de los Soles”, but when the charges were brought against Maduro, it turned out that this cartel didn’t even exist.
Im Interview: Luis Córdova-Alarcón
Luis Córdova-Alarcón is a political scientist and professor at the Universidad Central de Ecuador. He directs the Observatorio Orden, Conflicto y Violencia (Ecuador) and is principal investigator of the Ecuadorian Observatory of Conflict-LLAMAS. Research focus: organized crime in Latin America, social organization of illegal markets, violence and security dynamics
The conversation took place on January 12, 2026 in Berlin. We would like to thank the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung for the mediation.
taz: Do you also see positive elements in the US intervention?
Córdova-Alarcón: There is no immediate positive impact, as the Trump administration has already sent very mixed signals about a real fight against organized crime. In February 2024, President Trump created Task Force KleptoCapture, an anti-money laundering unitabolished what it is today relievedthat black money can also be laundered from the drug trade in the US economy. A second signal was the Pardon of the former president of Honduraswho was convicted of drug and weapons trafficking. So the message is not that Trump is going after drug traffickers, but that he is going after those who are not on his side. And finally, the kidnapping of Maduro doesn’t change anything Fentanylhandelwhich flows from Mexico to the USA.
taz: Letizia Paoli, The professor’s for criminology in Belgium, has in one Interview with the taz three main criteria for a ““Narco-state” is defined: a level of drug-related violence so high that it affects social life; Gangs capable of funkcarrier to corrupt right up to the highest levels of politics and the judiciary; and a significant contribution of drug trafficking to gross domestic product. Fulfilled Ecuador these criteria?
Córdova-Alarcón: I know Letizia Paoli’s work. However, I am rather critical of the concept of the drug state. Yes, it is these three factors that characterize a drug state; In the specific case of Ecuador, however, the concept seems to me to obscure more than to really show what is happening in our country. Drugs are only responsible for three out of ten violent murders in Ecuador. In other words, 70 percent of violent murders are not related to drugs, but to other illegal industries such as extortion, kidnapping, illegal mining, etc.
taz: How successful is the “war on drugs” that the government of the current president, Daniel Noboaleads?
Córdova-Alarcón: This focuses on a marginal part of the violence by arresting the leaders. In contrast, the Ecuadorian state has abandoned fundamental social and socio-economic obligations. Education and health are particularly affected. In Ecuador, there are at least 450,000 out-of-school children between the ages of 3 and 17. This makes it easier for teenagers and young adults to be recruited into gangs. Impunity is probably even more serious. Only 6 percent of all violent crimes are punished criminally. For example, in Ecuador it is easier to hire a hitman to collect a debt than to go to court to file a lawsuit. So in Ecuador there is not so much a failed state as a failed government, a drug government, not necessarily a drug state.
taz: We are currently reading a report that… Küstenstadt Puerto López five human heads were presented on the beachapparently by members of cartels against which locals are defending themselves. Despite all the cruelty, this is a positive sign of self-defense?
Córdova-Alarcón: There is still too little information to draw a conclusion about this event. However, has Eduardo Moncada, a scientist from Columbia University, published a study on the population’s resistance to crime in Latin America. He says that the population reacts to criminal violence in two ways: one is through spontaneous lynchings. You’re holding a criminal. They beat him to death. They burn him alive. In recent years, such lynchings have increased dramatically across Latin America.
taz: And the second reaction?
Córdova-Alarcón: These are the so-called vigilantes, where a group of people organize to defend themselves against a criminal organization. However, these armed self-defense structures are themselves becoming new criminal structures in Ecuador. Entrepreneurs hire armed people to fend off potential criminal organizations and defend their financial interests. I don’t know if this case has anything to do with it, but what I know from our research is that on the Ecuadorian coast, in the coastal provinces, there are several organizations that already operate as paramilitary structures.
taz: If cocaine no longer an illegal drug – would that break the spiral of violence or, above all, cause us new problems?
Córdova-Alarcón: I believe that politics has to go in two directions. Measures must be taken against the ban, which means that the consumption, trade and production of certain narcotics must be reregulated. And the second way is action within prohibitionism, because it will not be possible to dismantle the drug prohibition regime unless there are very ambitious multilateral actions. The cultivation of coca leaves in Colombia and Peru is the result of an economic structure that has developed over decades. Therefore, it is not easy to change or replace anything unless there is also a reform of this agricultural structure. According to recent studies, coca leaf cultivation creates at least 100,000 direct jobs in Colombia.
taz: What consequences does that have?
Córdova-Alarcón: Organized crime related to drug trafficking and other illicit industries is not just a security problem in Latin America. It is and must be treated as a development problem. What the formal economy cannot offer a young adult, the illicit industries can offer, namely a little money to consume and try to help his family have a better life. In Europe, formal economies continue to provide employment opportunities and, to some extent, social advancement to their populations. In Latin America it is the other way around and that is why Latin America is the most violent region in the world.