Narcoterrorismo e narcoestado: genealogias, usos políticos e riscos analíticos frente às facções no Brasil

Abstract

This article critically examines the political uses of the terms narcoterrorism and narco-state in Latin America, tracing their origins in U.S. security agendas and their contemporary power effects. It argues that narcoterrorism functions mainly as a rhetorical and geopolitical device with limited analytical consistency, legitimizing exceptional policies, external interventions, and civilizational framings of violence. The notion of narco-state may retain contextual descriptive value for specific forms of institutional capture linked to illicit economies, if used carefully and without securitizing generalizations. The Brazilian case illustrates how criminal groups generate forms of armed governance that cannot be equated with terrorism, requiring analytical distinctions between expressive violence, institutional capture, and illicit markets.