The Diversification of Organized Crime into Gold Mining: Domination, Crime Convergence, and Ecocide in Darién, Colombia

Abstract

Gold mining has become a significant new form of organized crime activity in Colombia, where criminal groups continue to shift their operations from cocaine trafficking into gold mining. This chapter focuses on how the Gulf Clan has diversified into gold mining in Colombia, why gold extraction is embedded in other organized crime activities, and how diversification accelerates ecocide. By positioning theoretical concepts within the environmental crime continuum and reflected on the ecocidal harms related to gold production, this chapter contributes to organized crime theory and green criminology. The empirical findings presented in this chapter are based on fieldwork carried out in Colombia’s Darién jungle between 2017 and 2019. The information gathered shows how the Gulf Clan transformed their features in order to diversify into the gold business. Key issues discussed include the legal-illegal interface, the role of social embeddedness, and how the local communities are impacted by ecocidal harms.