Texto: Josefina Salomón
In addition to fuelling violence, illicit arms markets, facilitated by corruption within the security forces, work as vehicles for other illegal economies, such as drug trafficking, and crimes such as femicide.
Sabrina Calandrón, a sociologist, anthropologist and researcher at CONICET says that, in Argentina, the retreat of the State from some of its traditional roles is facilitating the expansion of these kinds of markets and the way in which the violence they generate affects women.
We spoke with Calandrón – who will lead a panel on arms trafficking and gender at Amassuru‘ s international seminar “Organised crime in Latin America from a feminist perspective” on 22 November – about the current situation and future prospects.
In.Visibles (IV): How would you describe the current dynamics of arms trafficking in Latin America and the role of women in this context
Sabrina Calandrón (SC): Although there are few official figures, we know that Latina America is home to a very large illegal arms market. We can say, in general terms, that for every registered weapon there are between two and three unregistered or illegal weapons that are used in many different crime contexts, including organized crime, with dynamics that vary greatly from country to country. Most of the unregistered weapons in our country come from the province of Buenos Aires.
IV: How do these dynamics play out in Argentina?
SC: Like in other countries, in Argentina, the arms phenomenon is a complex one with many elements that must be considered, including the link between arms trafficking and cross-border illegal markets, such as drug trafficking; the composition and training of security forces; and the fact that these forces are a significant source of many illegal weapons. In Argentina in particular, we must also pay close attention to what happened with the disarmament plans that were promoted for several years, which despite being somewhat successful were discontinued.
IV: You mentioned the issue of borders. What are the main countries of origin for the illegal arms market in Argentina?
SC: I couldn’t answer that with certainty. According to some data, some come from nearby countries by land and then there are some arms that come from the security forces to the illegal markets.
IV: You have studied the impact of arms trafficking on women, what can you tell us about that?
SC: Yes. What we see there is that the main impact that the illegal arms trafficking market has on women has to do with the use of firearms, often illegal, unregistered, in violent domestic settings, with the most radical expression of this violence being femicides. The challenge here is to think about and implement public policies for control, registration and disarmament. The availability of firearms, particularly in the context of violent relationships, greatly increases the risk for women.
IV: In cases where security forces’ weapons become part of illegal markets, is the state failing, or does it not have the capacity to control it
SC: Certainly the state today does not have the capacity to control illegal markets. This is mainly linked to thee way the forces are organized in Argentina. Here, every policeman, every gendarme, every prefect, has an individualized weapon that he or she takes home. This is where there is a great danger zone, where losses, thefts, etc. are reported.
To this day, there hasn’t been an effective way to control these firearms. There have been some attempts to control them, some specific initiatives and with very specific types of weapons, but the majority of light firearms, say, pistols, the state does not have the conditions to exercise control and monitoring of those weapons.
IV: In Argentina there was a voluntary weapons surrender programme that was, at least relatively, effective.
SC: Yes, in fact, it is a programme that began in 2007 and then was renewed, partly as a result of that success. The issue here is that voluntary surrender was financially rewarded, so in order to carry out the programme, resources were needed. When the resources were lacking, a few years ago, around 2021, the programme stopped being effective. But when it was, the programme was effective in two ways. On the one hand, in the effective delivery of a firearm, but also in drawing attention to the danger of having a firearm at home.
IV: Some academics suggest that Argentina is becoming an attractive country for criminal organizations, among other things because how easy it is to launder money there and the availability of cheap labour as a result of rising poverty and the shrinking of the state. How do you assess the current situation and what are your views on the future?
SC: It is a legitimate concern, very legitimate, because, as you say, it is a scenario where those forms of containment, attention and control of different forms of crime are collapsing. It seems to me that we are at a crossroads when it comes to analysing the State and social dynamics and that we are still lacking the conceptual tools to fully understand it. What we do know is that encouraging a discourse in favour of every citizen arming themselves, propagating hate speech and promoting policies that could facilitate money laundering policies is an extremely dangerous combination.
When it comes to gender issues, gender policies in the context of security, which is an issue where progress had been made, I see setbacks. In some key places, such as the Ministry of Security, they removed areas that were in charge of the attention and follow-up of reports, which historically was done in coordination with each of the security forces. In addition, the Ministry of National Security was also responsible for coordinating policies with the provinces that are in charge of what is called ordinary security, with their provincial police forces. That coordination is not there anylonger. The personnel who were prepared for this type of attention are not there.
A lot has happened in a short period of time, and this is worrying.
This interview has been summarised and edited for clarity.
The international seminar, organised by Amassuru: ‘Organised crime in Latin America from a feminist approach’ will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 22 November. Subscription details and access to the webcast of the event are available here.
