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Reposted by John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉

Hopkins Press @hopkinspress.bsky.social · Jul 28

Read John Polga-Hecimovich's "Transnational Organized Crime and the Venezuelan State" in the new issue of
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, now available to read via @projectmuse.bsky.social

muse.jhu.edu/article/965801

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Jul 27

New piece out for GIS:

Organized crime is evolving—and spreading—across Latin America, infiltrating not just streets, but states.

🇸🇻 Mano dura may win votes.
⚖️ But real security needs justice, reform & regional coordination.

Read here 👉 www.gisreportsonline.com/r/organized-...

Organized crime and security in Latin America – GIS Reports

Transnational crime in Latin America is growing across the region, posing a challenge to democracies.

www.gisreportsonline.com

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Jul 27

Still, there are solutions—but they aren’t easy. To tackle TOC, states need:

✅ Political will
✅ State capacity
✅ International coordination

Unfortunately, Venezuela has almost none of these under its current government...

Project MUSE - Transnational Organized Crime and the Venezuelan State

muse.jhu.edu

John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Jul 27

This creates a vicious cycle:
💸 The regime depends on illicit revenue.
🔫 It uses TCOs as security proxies.
🛑 It resists cooperation with other states.

Result? Efforts to fight crime can undermine regime survival, meaning real reform is unlikely without regime change.

Project MUSE - Transnational Organized Crime and the Venezuelan State

muse.jhu.edu

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Jul 27

Why would a government allow this? Because, under Maduro, the state needs organized crime. Drug trafficking, illegal gold mining, and criminal alliances fund the regime and bolster its coercive power.

This is state capture in reverse: the state as a criminal group.

Project MUSE - Transnational Organized Crime and the Venezuelan State

muse.jhu.edu

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Jul 27

In the article, I make four core arguments:
1️⃣ Venezuela protects foreign TCOs like the ELN and ex-FARC.
2️⃣ It helped grow Tren de Aragua from a prison gang to a megabanda.
3️⃣ It exported that gang across Latin America.
4️⃣ The state itself operates as a criminal enterprise.

Project MUSE - Transnational Organized Crime and the Venezuelan State

muse.jhu.edu

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Jul 27

Organized crime in Latin America isn’t just a story of weak states—it’s often a story of complicit states.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Venezuela, where the state does more than tolerate criminal groups: it protects, fosters, and even acts as one.

Project MUSE - Transnational Organized Crime and the Venezuelan State

muse.jhu.edu

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Jul 27

New article out now in the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, "Transnational Organized Crime and the Venezuelan State".

📰 muse.jhu.edu/article/965801
📄 DOI: doi.org/10.1353/gia....

In it, I examine the relationship between, well, transnational crime and the Venezuelan state under Maduro.

Project MUSE - Transnational Organized Crime and the Venezuelan State

muse.jhu.edu

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Reposted by John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉

Latinoamérica21 @latinoamerica21.bsky.social · May 29

🇻🇪 En #MiradaSemanal examinamos el contexto de la elección regional y la consolidación autoritaria en #Venezuela.

🎙️ Para esta edición entrevistamos a @jpolga.bsky.social y Raúl Sanchez Urribarri en compañía de Manuel Alcántara, @maripuerta.com y la conducción de Xavier Rodríguez Franco.

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Reposted by John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉

Maria I. Puerta Riera 🌻 @maripuerta.com · May 24

Join us tomorrow for a Roundtable to discuss our book: “Authoritarian Consolidation in Times of Crisis: Venezuela under Nicolás Maduro” edited by @jpolga.bsky.social & Raúl Sánchez #LASA2025

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · May 21

I wrote about Trump Administration rhetoric & policy in Latin America, and how Latin American states are being pushed to pick between the U.S. and China.

www.gisreportsonline.com/r/latam-betw...

Latin America between China and the U.S. – GIS Reports

Central and South America with the Caribbean face growing geopolitical pressure as Washington and Beijing compete for dominance south of the U.S. border.

www.gisreportsonline.com

John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Apr 10

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

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Reposted by John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉

Antulio Rosales @antuliorosales.bsky.social · Apr 10

Today I got my copy of Authoritarian Consolidation in Times of Crisis, edited by @jpolga.bsky.social and Raúl Sánchez Urribarrí.

A nice present in troubled times.

Thanks to the editors for their amazing work and to @benedictebull.bsky.social and Manuel Sutherland for awesome team effort.

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Mar 31

Raúl and I are thankful to so many people who made this possible, including Iñaki Sagarzazu, with whom we initially conceived of this project way back in 2016.

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Mar 31

Víctor Mijares
@maripuerta.com
@nosumacero.bsky.social
@antuliorosales.bsky.social
Francisco Sánchez
Isabel Rowan Scarpino
@orcunselcuk.bsky.social
@dsmilde.bsky.social
Manuel Sutherland
@svitalem.bsky.social
Verónica Zubillaga

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Mar 31

Our amazing contributors include:
@adriboersner.bsky.social
@benedictebull.bsky.social
Victoria Capriles
Marsílea Gombata
Rosa Amelia González
@beccahanson.bsky.social
@pablohernandezb.bsky.social
Charles Larratt-Smith
@daniel-leon87.bsky.social
Miguel Ángel Martínez Meucci
Michael McCarthy

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Mar 31

The book examines and develops the concept of authoritarian consolidation and then applies it to Maduro's Venezuela. Together with our contributors, we suggest a multicausal explanation for the consolidation of authoritarianism, with each chapter devoted to one of these plausible explanations.

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Mar 31

I'm delighted that Authoritarian Consolidation in Times of Crisis: Venezuela under Nicolás Maduro, the book I co-edited with Raúl Sánchez Urribarrí, has officially been published!

It is available at in paperback, hardcover and eBook almost everywhere. See: www.routledge.com/Authoritaria...

Authoritarian Consolidation in Times of Crisis: Venezuela under Nicolás Maduro

Bringing together experts from across the social sciences, this volume examines the consolidation of authoritarianism in Venezuela under the government of Nicolás Maduro. Taking a comparative perspect...

www.routledge.com

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Mar 24

Thank you, Heather, great work on your piece!

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Mar 21

Who knew?

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Mar 15

In light of today's news, I'm reposting something that Charles Larratt-Smith and I wrote about TdA late last year:

americasquarterly.org/article/how-...

How Much of a Threat is Tren de Aragua in the U.S.?

The Venezuelan prison gang was a frequent theme in Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric on immigration. But its reach in the U.S. is exaggerated.

americasquarterly.org

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Feb 4

We've talked about this!

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Jan 26

Day 1 of my "Comparative Politics of Latin America" course:

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Jan 24

The ongoing political and economic crisis in #Bolivia seems to have flown under the international radar.

I wrote about what all of this likely means for the country's 2025 elections and beyond:
www.gisreportsonline.com/r/bolivia-po...

Bolivia’s political chaos puts economy at risk – GIS Reports

Bolivia faces a confluence of political infighting, external pressures and the risk of economic collapse as the 2025 presidential election nears.

www.gisreportsonline.com

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John Polga-Hecimovich 🧉 @jpolga.bsky.social · Jan 22

What a delightful present from colleague and friend Mike Kellermann! (Also, #IYKYK)

A red t-shirt with the words "Juan Linz was right" around the outline of the White House

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