Encarcelando eslabones descartables: microtráfico en mujeres bolivianas y su vinculación con comunidades indígenas y evangélicas intra y extracarcelarias
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article examines the social conditions surrounding the imprisonment of Indigenous Bolivian women—both defendants and convicted offenders—incarcerated for drug-related offenses in northern Chile. Drawing on the theory of cultural practices and critical criminology, the study situates cross-border smuggling within its specific socioeconomic context, distinguishing it from the historical, medicinal, and ritual use of coca leaves in the Andean region. A qualitative phenomenological approach was employed, based on the analytical triangulation of 11 in-depth interviews incorporating the narratives of formerly incarcerated women, female pastors, and volunteer prison workers. The findings reveal that the Chilean State fails to comply with the United Nations' Bangkok Rules by prioritizing imprisonment, thereby intensifying the sociocultural uprooting experienced by this population. The study further shows that incarcerated women who are monolingual in Indigenous languages or have limited proficiency in Spanish are subjected to severe forms of racialized violence and symbolic stigmatization by both fellow inmates and correctional staff. Finally, the evidence confirms the absence of criminal trajectories in the biographies of these women, whose involvement in drug trafficking functions primarily as a survival strategy in the context of the feminization of extreme poverty. In response to punitive state neglect, Evangelical communities emerge as transnational networks that play an active role in providing care, hospitality, and residential support outside prison, thereby facilitating pathways toward social reintegration.
Source: REVISTA CUHSO
Authors: Miguel Angel Mansilla Agüero, Roberto Dufraix, Johanna corrine Slootweg
Institutions: Arturo Prat University, University of Tarapacá
Language: Portuguese
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7212569335
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