Chilean prosecutors have warned that organized crime groups are opening new maritime trafficking routes through the Strait of Magellan, the 350-mile waterway at the southern tip of South America that connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, using it as an alternative corridor to the Panama Canal for moving drugs, weapons and contraband across international borders.
Cristian Crisosto, regional prosecutor for the Magallanes region, said criminal organizations have altered their traditional routes to evade intensified enforcement in the Caribbean. He told Radio Pauta on Friday that the shift is driven in part by U.S. interdiction pressure under President Trump’s administration. “President Trump has created significant pressure in the Caribbean, so these groups are seeking new routes to avoid international controls,” Crisosto said.
Crisosto said criminal networks are taking advantage of the international free-navigation regime that governs transit through the Strait of Magellan. Under the arrangement, Chile has committed to allowing free passage for any vessel, meaning ships can transit without specific authorization from Chilean authorities. “The Strait of Magellan is under Chilean sovereignty, but Chile has committed to allowing free passage for any vessel. Unless there is a specific complaint, ships are allowed to pass,” Crisosto said.
The prosecutor said judicial investigations are underway involving cocaine and ecstasy trafficking, money laundering and weapons smuggling. Crisosto added that dismantled criminal groups were composed primarily of foreign nationals, including Venezuelans, Colombians, Paraguayans, Ecuadorians and Argentines.
Retired Carabineros Gen. Patricio Santos, technical deputy director of the Comprehensive Security Center at Finis Terrae University, told UPI the route changes are part of a wider pattern. “These are not isolated incidents. They are part of a regional reconfiguration of criminal logistics chains,” Santos said.
Santos said criminal organizations assess the capabilities of the state, identify operational gaps and redefine their routes, storage hubs, transportation methods and forms of institutional infiltration accordingly. “They evaluate risks, costs, timelines and enforcement capabilities. If a traditional route becomes more heavily monitored, the activity does not disappear. It simply migrates, fragments or transforms,” he said.
A 2025 report by InSight Crime, a research organization focused on organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean, documented the broader trend. The report found that half of Latin American and Caribbean countries increased their cocaine seizures, while the other half recorded declines as trafficking routes adjusted in response to new interdiction strategies, including the use of liquid cocaine to evade scanners and alternative transportation methods such as sailboats.
Santos said contemporary criminal organizations now operate through flexible networks rather than rigid hierarchies. “Latin American criminal organizations have learned to operate through networks, diversify illicit markets, distribute risks and expand across borders. They no longer depend exclusively on rigid hierarchies,” he said. “They often function through franchises, flexible alliances and hybrid structures that combine violence, illicit economies and territorial social control.”