User:Cjane2811/OLES2129/draft

Organised Crime in Chile
The key requirements of a Wikipedia page is fulfilling the categories of notability, neutrality and that no original research has taken place. The topic of ‘Organised Crime in Chile’ meets all 3 of these criteria’s. Notability – this topic is notable as there is currently no similar article on Wikipedia and the redirect link to ‘crime in Chile’ is very brief containing only 200 words. The new article will allow for a solid collation of information on a more specific matter. Whilst organised crime is quite a niche topic, there is plenty of relevant and credible sources which provide verifiability (another requirement of a Wikipedia page). The third and final criteria for a Wikipedia article is neutrality. The article will be neutral as it does not seek to translate any opinion or personal belief onto the reader merely present already researched information.

One WikiProject that ‘Organised Crime in Chile’ could go under would be the overarching ‘Chile’ project (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Chile).

In order to give the article some structure and separate it for ease of reading, it will be split into multiple sections:

Section 1: History of Organised Crime in Chile

This section will provide a brief outline of the main events in Chile’s history that are relevant to the topic to set up the foundations and scope of the topic narrowing in on definitions of what organised crime actually is and where it sits in the scheme of crime in Chile generally. This will also provide some context for more recent events and regulations that will be included in a later section.

Section 2: Money laundering and drug trafficking

This section will provide specific insight into money laundering and drug trafficking in Chile. These are two of the main facets of organised crime in Chile so warrant a whole section to delve into detail on their origins and the development of them over time. Some key components of this section will include Chile’s hesitancy in establishing a financial intelligence unit until 2003 and the general governance of money laundering in the nation.

Section 3: Regulations in place to prevent organised crime

This will focus specifically on laws and regulations that are specifically set up to stop organised crime in Chile. Some key ones include: the democratisation of Chile and the positive affect this has had on organised crime, the UAF (financial analysis unit), the public ministry and the CDE.

Section 4: Recent events and groups involved in organised crime

This section will focus on events in the past 20 years that are ‘noteworthy’ in the category of organised crime. This includes the 2003 money laundering/ drug bust of Patricio Gálmez  that seized two shipments of cocaine from the Kristel Food Bananeras group which was discovered to be a façade company based in Chile for laundering more than $500 million worth of property. It will also include some information on the various groups known to be involved in organised crime in Chile such as bureaucratic/corporate operations, youth and street gangs.

Reference List

Fernandez Labbe, Marcos. “Fictitious Enthusiasm: The Drug Market in the Transition to Prohibition in Chile, 1920-1960.” Historia Critica issue 39. 2009.

This academic article has proved very helpful and will be used across multiple sections of the article. The 40 year period that it spans is very useful in the initial history section providing a detailed timeline of Chile’s drug market, explaining reasons for the peaks and troughs of it in the mid 20thcentury. It is also extremely useful in section 2 which goes into specific detail on drug trafficking in Chile. This shows the article is worth pursing as there is very detailed information on the emergence of drug routes and circuits throughout Chile that were facilitated by the role pharmacists and doctors played in the prescribing of illicit drugs such as cocaine, opium and marijuana.

Fernández, Matías. “The Socioeconomic Impact of Drug-Related Crimes in Chile.” International Journal of Drug Policy, vol. 23, no. 6, Elsevier B.V., Nov. 2012.

This article is extremely useful in examining the undeniable link between drugs and crime which is extremely prominent in Chile. The article will predominantly be used in section 3 of the article as it articulates the need for regulations to prohibit drug related crimes and gives insight into the reasoning behind current legislation. It will also be used in section 2 as it gives factual evidence of the economic issues associated with drug trafficking in Chile and how the rise of it in the 1990s was causing extreme hardship to those involved.

Hepburn, Stephanie, and Simon, Rita J. . Human Trafficking Around the World : Hidden in Plain Sight. Columbia University Press, 2013.

This article provides insight into sex trafficking and forced labour in Chile along with numerous other South American nations. Parts of the article are extremely useful but some are extremely intimate as Hepburn engages in discussion with victims of traumas. It will be important to not use any of this highly emotive information as it contradicts Wikipedia’s notion of neutrality. In saying this however parts of the article provide extremely useful statistical data surrounding human trafficking which will be used in section 1 of the article as well as in some of section 2 in a discussion of other forms of organised crime in Chile.

Solar, Carlos. “Government and Governance of Security.” The Politics of organised crime in Chile, 2018.

This article is by far the most informative in regards to specific content on the topic. Solar provides in depth information that is of an extremely credible and high standard on specific organised crime in Chile topics. He focusses primarily on topics that will be useful in sections 3 and 4 as he dissects what events triggered the implementation of various regulations and laws in Chile’s recent legal history. Intertwined with his description of various regulations to prevent organised crime he also provides specific example of recent events relevant to the topic which will be useful in section 4.

Solar, Carlos. “The Inter-Institutional Governance of Money Laundering: An in-Depth Look at Chile Following Re-Democratisation.” Global Crime, vol. 16, no. 4, Routledge, Aug. 2015,

By the same author as the above article, this particular source is limited in its use however provides detailed statistical data on money laundering in Chile and how it has changed following re-democratisation. It also contains some useful information for section 1 in how different periods of leadership in Chile have impacted the levels of organised crime.