Americans have been shocked to learn that a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, has taken over several apartment buildings and begun extorting residents in Aurora, Colorado. Such behavior is a part of everyday life in Latin America. Aurora’s challenges, which became known in August 2024, are the tip of the iceberg of what is coming as the United States becomes Latin America at a rapid clip.
The degree of criminality in Latin America is so high that it constitutes a paradigm incomprehensible to most people in the Anglosphere, with the exception of those who have lived in troubled urban centers such as Baltimore, Detroit, St. Louis, and New Orleans. I shall explain what exists in Latin America and six prudent steps to take in response to its arrival. Most Anglo-Americans would best change their thinking and actions, if they have not already.
Latin America’s Normal
Within about 20 minutes of my first outing in Caracas, Venezuela, I witnessed a robbery. This was in 2014, and there was an odd movement of people in front of me by the stairs to the metro. I was confused regarding what was going on, and a few people walked by me swiftly along the busy street. One short indigenous young man among the small group of thieves had a makeshift cloth tied over his head and a gloating smile on his face. My friend hosting me in the city told me there had been a robbery, and we went to speak with the victim. He said they had pulled knives on him and that he had lost his phone and wallet—in daylight and surrounded by countless people. Robbery is so common there, often lethal to boot, that locals accept it and just avoid getting involved, lest they risk their own lives.
Our downtown Caracas tour continued, and we ventured near the infamous Tower of David, an unfinished building but one of the tallest skyscrapers in Venezuela. In the late 1990s, squatters and professional criminals occupied the building and refused to leave. Although they parroted Marxist slogans about communal property, my friend warned me that they would kill me for trespassing if I were to venture inside. Apparently, the slumlord had a penchant for throwing people from the top to their deaths. In the 2010s, the Chavista dictatorship attempted to relocate residents and sell the building. However, squatters had already occupied the new buildings slated for the relocation, and the prospective Chinese buyers backed out of the deal.
A similar takeover occurred earlier in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the first half of the 20th century, desperate new arrivals resided on public land—now known as Villa 31 or Barrio Padre Mugica—near the city center and developed makeshift dwellings. As the decades passed by, the residents evaded removal but never received formal property titles. This would have been an appropriate remedy, and it would have fostered long-term development of the land. Instead, Paraguayan gangs took over and became the de facto owners. They charge rents on the largely immigrant residents, and, despite plenty of taxpayer funding for improvements, the slum eyesore remains.
The Jungle Paradigm
After living in Argentina and Guatemala and traveling to 17 other Latin American countries, I describe what most of these countries exhibit as the law of the jungle. This entails two criteria: (1) a violent/criminal proclivity in the population and (2) a corrupt, absent, and/or incompetent police force. Life there carries less value, as murder is commonplace. When I lived in Guatemala City in 2017–2018, there was a day of no reported murders, and no-one could remember that happening before.
One criterion without the other will not constitute jungle law. While many parts of Wyoming are isolated and barely have police, they are self-governing, respectful of private property, and weed out criminality in short order. On the other hand, many British colonies used firm law enforcement to overcome customary violence.
That being said, the two attributes tend to go together. As criminality rises, it almost always infects the police. The breakdown in civility is subtle at first, with people on streets demanding payment to “protect” your vehicle. However, the criminality creeps into widespread extortion of private businesses and ultimately to a co-opting of the justice system. My dentist in Guatemala, for example, does not list her business or make her phone number public. Even with her clinic deeply nestled on a high floor in a major building, she still gets phone threats demanding a share of her income.
An acquaintance in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, had someone break into his home, despite a litany of impediments. The thief stole a computer and a few other easily accessible items, while the family hid themselves. When the owner reported this to a policeman, he spoke man-to-man and said the owner would have best killed the intruder, thrown him in the river, and mentioned it to no-one. Getting the police involved would open a can of worms and draw more attention to the property.
The magnates and aristocrats of Latin America have learned how to navigate jungle law and thrive as best as possible. We can learn from their inherited wisdom about how to survive in the new United States, just as poor and middle-class Latinos do their best to replicate the tactics of the wealthy. Here are six of my observations:
1. Forget relying on government for protection.
When I grew up in New Zealand, the police proudly did not carry firearms and sought to convey what was known in the British Commonwealth nations as policing by consent. The UK Home Office explains this policing authority as “derived not from fear but almost exclusively from public co-operation with the police.”
Policing by consent seems like a quaint idea these days, because it rests on a peaceful, law-abiding society. The rise of Latino gangs in the United States will usher in even more police militarization, all while the police still fear the gangs, as they do in Venezuela.
Even if the police were competent, they would hold back for self-preservation, and legal precedent confirms they have no obligation to protect citizens. A New York subway good samaritan found this out when he risked his life, got stabbed, and subdued a killer, all while police watched from safety behind a glass door. Further, as politicians get bought off and the police become more corrupted, infiltrated, and ideologically vilified, their incompetence and apathy will worsen.
2. Segregate your life with private security.
Faced with both high crime and feckless police, Latin America’s wealthy families retreat from public areas. Instead, they thrive in sophisticated gated communities and highly secured buildings. To my disbelief, I have heard that robberies are common even in gated communities. That points to the fact that many such developments are less exclusive, since there is strong demand for security from not-so-wealthy residents too.
My apartment complex in Guatemala City, in a relatively prosperous area, had both a security guard at the entrance and a guard around the corner to warn the other of any approaching trouble. Most of the foreign officials live in a private district, Colónia La Cañada, which itself is buffered by Zone 14, already the most upscale part of town.
When I traveled to a wedding in Carora, Venezuela, the host father owned a cattle ranch about 10 miles from the small city. He relied on a 24-hour, highly trained security team to protect the family and livestock. Predictably, when wealthy Latinos arrive in the United States they gravitate towards gated communities, as can be seen in the likes of Weston, Florida, a magnet for Venezuelans.
3. Establish a trusted community.
Amid a low-trust society, leaning on family, long-standing friends, and tight affinity groups makes sense. Yes, nepotism reigns in Latin America and for good reason. People can barely trust their own kin, let alone the broader public.
Unfortunately, nepotism reduces meritocracy and economic development, but what are you going to do? High trust has likely been the key defining attribute that enabled Western civilization to rise and lead the world. The problem is that being a trusting person in a low-trust society makes you a sucker to be preyed upon.
4. Do not confront cartels directly.
Tragically, as cartels grow stronger and more embedded in various levels of US government and society, fewer people will speak against them. To do so would risk an escalating confrontation. This is an unspoken rule in Latin America: leave the cartels out of it. Protect yourself, abandon cartel-controlled districts, let them fight among themselves, and look the other way at the lava dinero (money laundering) all around.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, for example, has already put his life in danger by speaking out publicly against Venezuelan gangs, even identifying the Tren de Aragua cartel specifically. Just look at the murders of government officials in Ecuador to see where this road leads.
A Honduran friend has explained that growing up in San Pedro Sula, at one time known as the world’s murder capital, gave her a sixth sense for the presence of the maras (gang foot soldiers). As if she had eyes in the back of her head, she knew when to flee an area and avoid a confrontation.
5. Submit or fight to the death.
There is no reasoning with cartel vermin. Whatever empathy they might have had no longer exists. At the drop of a hat, they will kill whoever resists them. Unless you are willing to use deadly force in short order, you would best acquiesce to their demands. Guatemalans often carry throw-away phones for this purpose, so they can hand over a phone when one is demanded by petty criminals. Even poor taxi and bus drivers pay extortion rackets, because they know the threats have teeth.
This applies to law enforcement, in particular, because they will be sitting ducks for murder. I have previously advocated the death penalty for narcos such as MS-13, so long as the judicial system still has enough spine to carry it out. Without the death penalty, cartels will simply use prisons as training grounds and headquarters. The murder of the Ecuadorian presidential candidate in 2023 was, as reported by El País of Spain, planned by the Lobos gang in Cotopaxi prison.
6. Signal your refinement.
The previous five actions lead to a more segregated society, and this will exacerbate the coming apart of the United States, already well documented by author Charles Murray. Latinos go to more effort, if they can, to signal their refinement and membership in the aristocracy. Although this might come across as uncouth, superficial, and pretentious, it is an attempt to distinguish oneself from the more troubled aspects of Latin American society (the gente baja). In some ways, it is also paying respect to European or Creole refinement, and I would do the same if living there. A clothing franchise in Paraguay, for example, is literally called Shopping Británico.
This signaling takes many forms: exclusive education, English proficiency, international experience, formal attire, country- and social-club memberships (such as the Mont Pelerin Society), costly sports such as polo and dressage, and lavish celebrations. Since these are beyond the reach of the masses, they are opportunities to build the trusted community and be accepted by fellow aristocrats and magnates.
On a Spectrum
One challenge with addressing jungle law and the distinctions between Anglo and Latin America is that there is a great deal of crossover and gray area. Within Latin America, there are relatively safer countries, such as Costa Rica and Uruguay, and within the United States there are relatively dangerous cities, such as Memphis and Albuquerque.
This is further complicated by the ethnic stratification of the United States, with Latinos disproportionately present in the Southwest, Texas, and South Florida. These locations will be the most impacted by jungle law, whereas the Pacific Northwest and New England will be the least impacted, for now.
That being said, the challenges are profound, and they have arrived, even here in otherwise prosperous and enviable Colorado. Nipping jungle law in the bud will not be easy, since it will require harsh punishments, violent confrontations, ending social services for illegal immigrants, and mass deportations. However, taking proactive and comprehensive action now at the policy level will be immensely easier than in a decade’s time.
Given political correctness, ideological blindness, and a lack of awareness regarding the brutality and sophistication of the enemy, such adamant actions from the federal government seem unlikely. Candidate Donald Trump might want a broad crackdown and more selective immigration policies, akin to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s desire for “highly skilled scientists, engineers, doctors, artists, and philosophers.” As I write this, Trump is neck and neck with Kamala Harris for the White House in 2025. However, even if Trump is elected, the permanent bureaucracy and legal system will seek to derail his efforts, and regime media will scold him severely.
Individuals, therefore, would best arm themselves, take seriously the habits of successful Latinos, and brace for what is set to get worse.
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