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As Peruvians battle with organized crime resulting from their immigration crisis, analysts say it’s a pattern that will keep repeating.
Peru’s Gang Problem
On the outskirts of Peru’s capital, Lima, beginning on Oct. 31, residents poured into the streets to protest against Venezuelan criminals who’ve reportedly been demanding money from local merchants and families.
Los Gallegos is part of the larger Venezuelan terrorist group Tren de Aragua.
The escalation between Venezuelan criminals and Peruvians between Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 prompted the current administration under President Dina Boluarte to deploy the Peruvian National Police (PNP) and additional security forces to restore order and boost security.
The terrorists demanded that Peruvians stop attacking their gang members and other Venezuelan immigrants, or they’ll respond with lethal force.
“If they [Peruvians] make another attempt on the life of any other Venezuelan worker, we will apply the same thing. We will kill Peruvian workers so that they realize that this is not the solution. There will be no bread for Peruvians who support xenophobia,” one of the hooded terrorists in the video stated.
Wider Pattern
The escalation in Peru is part of a repeating pattern happening in countries like Colombia and Chile.
Eventually, locals in the host countries decide they’ve had enough.
“No one wants to talk about the crime that comes with the migration crisis. Peruvians fighting back to protect their families are called ‘xenophobic.’ Their lives were threatened by a cartel using immigrants as a shield,” Luis Garcia told The Epoch Times.
A Lima resident, Mr. Garcia is familiar with the increasingly combative stance between Venezuelan immigrants and fed-up Peruvian locals.
“This is not an easy problem [to solve]. Venezuelans arrive with no jobs, no money. Most have families to feed. The cartels offer a solution when they can’t find work,” he said.
However, most agree that trafficking and terrorist groups are exploiting and recruiting illegal immigrants—many of whom are Venezuelan—to work for them. This makes increased criminal activity a by-product of the migration crisis in the Americas.
Political Motives
“Immigrant communities are easily preyed upon by organized crime networks, particularly when they use illegal entry into the United States as bait,” author and analyst Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat told The Epoch Times.
Mr. Boronat said it’s important to note many criminal groups within the Americas have ties to regional dictator regimes.
“The fact is that in spite of attempts to separate the two, organized crime and politics are intertwined. Most large criminal organizations have state sponsors. Totalitarian regimes specialize in this. Criminal organizations can be weaponized against U.S. interests,” he said.
‘The regime, not only that of Maduro but also that of [Hugo] Chavez, quickly understood that it could have these types of organizations … or mega-gangs at its service, and it uses them for whatever it needs.”
Evan Ellis, Latin America analyst and professor at the U.S. Army War College, said a spike in “Venezuelan gang-style violence” has been observed in Peru and is happening alongside the country’s migration crisis.
“They [Tren de Aragua] have played a role in selected Latin American countries in human trafficking and really targeting Venezuelans,” he told The Epoch Times.
‘Super Cartel’
In a 2022 report, the Center for a Secure Free Society noted that Mr. Maduro’s regime in Venezuela created a “super cartel,” with the specific intent of attacking the United States.
As a disciple of Mr. Chavez, Venezuela’s current regime under Mr. Maduro has continued to align with these goals.
The think tank noted Venezuela’s ” judiciary, military, and intelligence institutions” have coordinated with anti-U.S. state actors, regional militia groups, and drug cartels to create a sort of “super cartel” with a specific focus: Infiltrate U.S. communities and create widespread destabilization.
Signs of this are visible within the illegal immigrant population in the United States.
Much of this was attributed to an influx of female illegal immigrants working as prostitutes—many of whom are Venezuelan nationals. It’s unclear if they had been coerced into sex exploitation.
“We are going to create generational problems based on the failure of the national government, and this is one example of that.”
Regional Instability
Mr. Ellis says expanded criminal activities led by groups like Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua contribute to the instability of the entire region.
He said Peru is another example of how crime gangs slip through borders as “refugees” and then set up shop.
Mr. Ellis said it wouldn’t surprise him to find out Tren de Aragua was already operating within the vast community of Venezuelans residing illegally in the United States.
However, he believes gangs like Tren de Aragua are “small potatoes” compared to other cartels like the Iran-backed Hezbollah and Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.
Mr. Ellis says Peru’s battle with Venezuelan gangs is a story that “repeats itself a thousand times across Latin America.”
He said “increasingly violent groups” within local populations will continue to inspire the formation of vigilante groups.
“When they [Venezuelan gangs] demand bribes and kill us, what do they expect people to do? The police only responded when the Peruvian people decided to act,” Mr. Garcia said.
Bill Pan contributed to this report.
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