Summary

This report, produced in collaboration between Expediente Abierto and InSight Crime, examines the complex relationships between political, economic, and bureaucratic elites in Nicaragua and transnational organized crime networks. Drawing on years of field research and case studies, the document shows that these relationships are not incidental, but rather the result of structural dynamics that have enabled the consolidation of mutually beneficial ties between legal and illegal actors.

The study argues that criminal groups have expanded their influence in Nicaragua through strategic alliances with elites who provide protection, access to resources, and institutional cover. These relationships are facilitated by institutional weaknesses, lack of transparency, and a high concentration of political power, creating an environment conducive to the convergence of state and criminal interests.

Through emblematic cases such as that of Henry Fariñas, the report documents the existence of drug trafficking networks operating at a regional level—from Colombia to Mexico—with the participation or complicity of high-level officials, including members of the police, the judiciary, and electoral authorities. These findings highlight not only the scale of criminal networks but also institutional efforts to limit investigations when they involve powerful figures.

The report also suggests that Nicaragua’s relatively low levels of violence—often cited as a security success—may be linked to informal mechanisms of crime control, in which the state, or sectors within it, regulate or tolerate certain illicit activities in exchange for maintaining stability.

In its conclusions, the report warns that the centralization of political power and the control of institutions by a dominant elite have enabled the consolidation of a system in which the boundaries between the state and organized crime become increasingly blurred. In this context, criminal networks do not operate outside of power, but rather in close articulation with it, posing serious challenges to democratic governance, transparency, and the rule of law in Nicaragua.