Felipe Calderón warned that organized crime in Latin America is replacing functions of the State, such as the use of force, justice and tax collection.
Mexico City, November 10 (However).- The former president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa participated this weekend in the ABECEB business forum next to the former presidents Mauricio Macriof Argentina; y Eduardo Freiof Chile. There he expressed that organized crime in Latin America (LA) is taking over Stateand that it is replacing functions of the federal governments like the use of public forcethe creation of laws and the payment of taxes.
“The problem is that criminal gangs in Latin America they are taking over Stateand are replacing or seeking to replace functions of the State keys, which were monopolistic. What are they? The monopoly of public force, the monopoly of editing regulations or making laws, sometimes the monopoly of justice and above all the monopoly of paying taxes,” he commented.
Calderón Hinojosa explained that in the 20th century drug trafficking was only narcotics trafficking. However, he considered that criminal groups developed a new illicit market, where it is no longer only important to control the routes, but also to take over the territory. He added that, then, police officers, police chiefs, mayors and high-level officials begin to be bribed.
I am very grateful to the ABECEB business forum for its invitation to participate in the foresight forum in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A pleasure to participate alongside my good friends and colleagues, former Presidents Mauricio Macri of Argentina, and Eduardo Frei, of Chile. pic.twitter.com/bKyTH5DhKK
— Felipe Calderón 🇲🇽🇺🇦 (@FelipeCalderon) November 9, 2025
“Criminals have a radical change in model. They no longer only export to the United States, but they also distribute. An export model, where the added value is in the transportation of the merchandise, how you place a ton of cocaine between Colombia and Tucson, Arizona, is very different from the new market value that is in the distribution of drugs. In the old market the key is to control the routes; in the new market, in addition to the routes, the key is to control the territory,” he said.
When the State is completely captured, Calderón added, no one can ask for protection anymore because the criminals are the State itself. He talked about how when he launched his strategy in 2006, he managed to expel criminal organizations, “despite the sabotage of local governments.” He regretted that, at the end of his six-year term, this offensive policy was abandoned and criminal groups were allowed to “grow again.”
He took the opportunity to say that in Mexico there is a “Maximate” and that the election of the Judiciary was dictated by the Government of the so-called Fourth Transformation (4T).
👉🏻 Marval present at the 15th ABECEB Forum
Marval partners, Javier E. Patron, Diego Krischcautzky and Rodrigo Solá Torino, participated in the 15th ABECEB Forum, a key meeting to debate geopolitics, geoeconomics, demography, technology, investments… pic.twitter.com/VEgY3tlb22
— Mairal’s Fairy Family November 10, 2025
“The judges were all fired, from the justices of the peace to the ministers of the Court, the only power that opposed the ‘Maximate’ that is established in Mexico, a ‘Maximate’ that is becoming more autocratic every day. The judges were elected by the people, who are staff authorized by the party that governs, by Morena, pure militants and sympathizers of Morena, where there is everything: capable people and, the vast majority, unprepared people, some corrupt people and even lawyers for drug traffickers managed to become judges,” concluded Felipe Calderón.