Abstract

RIVERA-RHON, Renato Andrés  and  BRAVO-GRIJALVA, Carlos Emilio. Criminal governance and productive enclaves of illegal mining in Ecuador. Rev. logos cienc. tecnol. [online]. 2023, vol.15, n.2, pp.49-69.  Epub Aug 17, 2023. ISSN 2145-594X.  https://doi.org/10.22335/rlct.v15i2.1734.

The research aims to characterise the productive chains of the criminal governance(s) of illegal mining in Ecuador. It establishes four productive enclaves based on geographic analysis and remote sensing techniques, supported by semi-structured interviews and information from primary and secondary sources to understand the political economy of the organised crime related to illegal mining. The productive enclaves focus on the criminal organisations’ strategies, among the logistical and social regulations that converge to maintain the profita-bility of operations. In summary, the productive enclaves of illegal mining have generated a criminal neo-extractivist system, manifest from production model to social regulation in the organisations’ territories. Moreover, this system is interrelated with systematic corruption by the different powers of the State, private actors, indigenous communities, and other social groups, constituting a highly lucrative activity that exceeds the annual income of the Ecuadorian State for this extractive practice.

Keywords : political economy; mining; governance; crime; Ecuador.

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