When we think about the global drugs trade – countries like Colombia and Mexico often come to mind. But according to the Global Organized Crime Index, the country that sits just behind those two is Paraguay. In fact, Paraguay sits 4th globally for levels of criminality, with 7.52 out of 10.

It has really high scores for illicit markets like arms trafficking (9), counterfeit goods (9), Cocaine (8.5), and Cannabis (9). But then if we look at Criminal Actors within the OC Index, again, Paraguay scores incredibly highly across the board, for example state-embedded actors are at 9 out of 10, alongside foreign criminal actors. Overall, its Criminal Actor score is 8.3 out of 10.

Since 2021, Paraguay has seen an increase of 0.82 in levels of criminality, which means it climbed 12 places to 4th globally.

In addition to this, levels of resilience have remained relatively low, at 3.42 out of 10.

Only four other countries have seen a larger increase in the gap between criminality and resilience.

In this episode Thin discusses the situation in Paraguay.

Presenter: Thin Lei Win

Speakers: Professor Alba Maria González Rolón, former Judge for the first and only court dealing with Organized Crime in Paraguay and member of the GI Network of Experts.

OC Index Country profile(s):

Paraguay Country Profile

Additional Links:

The Global Organized Crime Index

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime