Shadows Over the Amazon: Criminal Networks Now Control Nearly 60 Percent of Municipalities Across the Basin

A comprehensive new mapping initiative conducted by the investigative collective Amazon Underworld has revealed a staggering expansion of criminal influence across the Amazon rainforest. According to the report, armed groups and illicit syndicates now operate in nearly three-fifths of all municipalities across six nations: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. The data paints a harrowing picture of a region where the rule of law is increasingly being superseded by transnational criminal enterprises that exploit vast, ungoverned territories to extract wealth, move illicit goods, and subjugate local populations.

The Scope of the Crisis

Researchers analyzed 1,310 municipalities across the Amazon basin and identified the presence of illicit actors in 768 of them, accounting for 59 percent of the total area. The density of criminal presence varies significantly by nation, yet the trend remains uniformly alarming. Colombia stands as the most severely affected, with criminal networks active in 98 percent of its Amazonian municipalities. Venezuela follows at 82 percent, while Brazil and Ecuador report 59 percent. Peru and Bolivia, while showing lower aggregate numbers at 34 percent and 31 percent respectively, demonstrate a dangerous trend of cross-border expansion.

The report highlights a critical shift in how these groups operate: they are no longer localized gangs but highly interconnected networks. Brazil’s notorious Comando Vermelho, for example, has extended its reach into nearly 500 municipalities, effectively exporting its violent business model into Bolivia and Peru. This internationalization of criminal operations has made the Amazon a logistical hub for the global illicit trade, rendering national borders increasingly irrelevant to the syndicates’ bottom lines.

Historical Context and the Rise of Gold

For decades, the illicit economy of the Amazon was synonymous with the production and trafficking of cocaine. However, the latest findings mark a fundamental transformation: gold has officially overtaken cocaine as the most lucrative criminal industry in the region. This transition is not merely economic; it is profoundly environmental. The extraction of gold, often conducted through illegal wildcat mining, has accelerated the destruction of primary forests and introduced massive amounts of mercury into the Amazon’s delicate river systems.

This shift has created a more complex web of criminality. While coca leaf cultivation remains a pillar of the regional shadow economy, the diversification into critical minerals—including tin, tungsten, and coltan—has attracted sophisticated criminal actors. These minerals, essential for global technology manufacturing, are being funneled through illicit supply chains in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela, often bypassing environmental and ethical regulations entirely.

The Human Toll: Communities Under Siege

The human cost of this criminal hegemony is most acutely felt by Indigenous populations and rural communities. In the Colombian Amazon, where eight armed groups currently vie for control over 99 municipalities, the impact is devastating. Humanitarian Action reports that approximately 78 percent of Colombia’s rural population—nearly 10 million people—live under the influence of at least one non-state armed group.

Bram Ebus, the founder of Amazon Underworld and a consultant for the International Crisis Group, emphasizes that the strategy of these groups is centered on the instrumentalization of local communities. "Groups extort them," Ebus stated. "They also use them, often under coercion, as human shields to protect illicit economies and obstruct state interventions. This leaves communities exposed to violent repression by state forces as well."

As rival factions battle for territorial supremacy, Indigenous defenders who oppose illegal mining or land encroachment are increasingly being targeted for assassination. The presence of these groups has effectively stripped local communities of their autonomy, forcing them to choose between participating in illegal economies for survival or facing systemic violence and displacement.

Economic Drivers and State Abandonment

A critical finding of the Amazon Underworld report is that criminal groups often provide a source of income that far outweighs what is available through traditional, legal economic avenues. In areas where the state has failed to provide infrastructure, education, or healthcare, illicit activities—such as coca picking or gold mining—become the only viable path for economic survival.

"People already feel abandoned by the state," Ebus explained. "Bombing the criminal groups that provide their livelihoods will only deepen that sense." This disconnect between the reality on the ground and the top-down policies of national governments is a recurring theme in the report.

The Failure of Militarized Responses

In recent years, a regional political shift toward right-wing governments across South America has prioritized militarized crackdowns on cartels and armed groups. While these policies are often popular with voters, the Amazon Underworld report suggests they are fundamentally flawed. The researchers argue that such interventions rarely address the systemic economic and political roots of organized crime.

Instead, the report warns that heavy-handed military tactics often produce unintended negative consequences. These include:

1. Displacement of Violence: Rather than eliminating groups, military pressure often pushes criminal syndicates into new, previously unaffected territories.
2. Erosion of Trust: Aggressive state actions can alienate local communities, further damaging the relationship between the government and the people it is meant to protect.
3. Institutional Corruption: Without addressing the financial networks behind these groups, militarization fails to dismantle the systemic corruption that allows illicit economies to flourish.

Towards a Smarter Strategy

The report concludes with a set of policy recommendations aimed at moving beyond the cycle of violence. Ebus and his colleagues argue for "smarter responses" that prioritize the following:

• Targeting Financial Flows: Focusing intelligence efforts on the banking and financial systems that allow criminal networks to launder profits from gold and cocaine.
• Permanent State Presence: Shifting away from transient military surges toward a sustained presence that provides essential public services, such as education and health, to marginalized communities.
• Economic Development: Investing in sustainable, legal livelihoods that can compete with the short-term gains of illicit work, thereby reducing the dependency of rural populations on criminal actors.

Implications for the Future

The findings of the Amazon Underworld report serve as a sobering indictment of the current state of governance in the Amazon basin. As these criminal networks consolidate their power, the environmental and humanitarian consequences will likely intensify. The shift toward critical minerals suggests that the illicit economy is becoming increasingly integrated into global supply chains, making the problem not just a regional security issue, but an international one.

Without a fundamental pivot toward addressing the socio-economic drivers of crime, the Amazon risks becoming a "black hole" of governance where environmental protection is impossible and the rights of Indigenous and local communities remain permanently subordinated to the interests of armed groups. The challenge for the six nations involved is no longer just about policing borders; it is about reclaiming the social contract in one of the most vital and vulnerable regions on Earth. As the mapping data clearly demonstrates, the clock is ticking, and the expansion of these criminal networks is showing no signs of slowing down.