Event series "Latin America, What's happening?" - Part II: Illegal economies

A cooperation with FIAN, ila, the Südwind Institute, Department of Regional Studies Latin America, University of Cologne

The drug economy has developed into an important aspect of the global economy. Latin America plays a leading export role, often with serious consequences for the population.

In addition to "traditional" suppliers such as Mexico or Colombia, Ecuador has become the largest exporter of cocaine to the EU within just a few years - in the same period, it has become the country with the highest murder rate in Latin America. Poverty is rising rapidly.

Speaker Sonja Gündüz shows that the entanglements of the cocaine trade with the legal economy and the highest levels of politics and justice made this possible in the first place. This is facilitated by a political and economic system that is still deeply influenced by colonialism. The export agricultural industry, banking and real estate sectors earn a lot from the drug business. Social investment and labor rights have been massively curtailed, and the work of human rights activists, journalists and politicians is increasingly restricted.

The political discourse suggests that human rights must take a back seat to the "war against the mafia". We discuss: What do the drug economies of Latin America have in common? How does the European Union's foreign and trade policy contribute to strengthening these structures? And: How can we as human rights organizations react to this?