Bring back order. Reclaim the spaces that criminals have claimed.
En la región de Coquimbo, una nueva jefa de seguridad lleva seis semanas construyendo una respuesta al crimen organizado que no parte de los escritorios, sino de las conversaciones con quienes viven dentro del problema. María José Duarte ha trazado una estrategia de tres pilares —presencia territorial, inteligencia e intervención tecnológica— que reconoce algo que los planes de seguridad suelen omitir: que restablecer el orden sin restituir la dignidad de las víctimas es una tarea a medias. Es el intento de una región por recuperar lo que el crimen ha ido silenciosamente ocupando.
- Nueve comunas de la región de Coquimbo han sido escenario de operaciones directas en apenas 45 días, señal de que la nueva conducción no espera consolidarse para actuar.
- El crimen organizado, el narcotráfico y la violencia cotidiana han vaciado de seguridad barrios enteros, y los vecinos transmiten un mensaje uniforme: quieren recuperar sus calles.
- La estrategia apunta simultáneamente hacia adentro —con intervenciones focalizadas en sectores de alto riesgo y programas para jóvenes— y hacia afuera, con control fronterizo e inteligencia para cortar el flujo antes de que llegue.
- Un helicóptero de nueva generación y la coordinación entre Carabineros y la PDI representan la apuesta tecnológica e institucional para desmantelar las redes económicas del delito.
- Las víctimas no son un anexo del plan sino su centro declarado: acceso a justicia, reparación y acompañamiento como parte estructural de la estrategia, no como gesto simbólico.
- La pregunta que queda abierta es si seis semanas de impulso pueden doblar la trayectoria de años de crimen arraigado, pero la dirección trazada es, por ahora, comprehensiva y con raíces en la comunidad.
María José Duarte lleva seis semanas al frente de la seguridad regional de Coquimbo y ya tiene una arquitectura clara para su gestión: tres pilares que buscan transformar la forma en que la región enfrenta el crimen, desde las redes del narcotráfico hasta la violencia que ha hecho de algunos barrios lugares donde el miedo dicta los movimientos cotidianos.
El primer pilar es la presencia. Duarte ha llevado a sus equipos a nueve comunas, no para anunciar políticas desde un podio, sino para escuchar directamente a los vecinos en sus espacios. Lo que esas conversaciones devuelven es consistente: recuperar el orden, reconquistar los espacios que el crimen ha tomado, volver a caminar tranquilo después de que oscurece. Esa transmisión directa de la preocupación ciudadana es, según ella, la base de todo lo que sigue.
El segundo pilar es la inteligencia y el control. Duarte trabaja en coordinación con Carabineros y la PDI para interceptar el flujo de organizaciones criminales, armas y drogas antes de que lleguen a las calles de la región. Su lectura es clara: el problema no nace aquí, viene de afuera, y debe ser detenido en el origen.
El tercer pilar combina tecnología e intervención focalizada. Un helicóptero de nueva generación llegará a la región como herramienta clave para perseguir a los traficantes y desarticular sus redes económicas. A eso se suman operaciones en barrios de alto riesgo y programas dirigidos a niños y jóvenes, con una lógica preventiva: interrumpir el flujo antes de que se llene.
Lo que distingue el relato de Duarte de otros diagnósticos de seguridad es el lugar que ocupa la víctima. No como un elemento marginal, sino como el centro estructural de la política: acceso a justicia, reparación, acompañamiento. Su argumento es que una estrategia que ignora a quienes ya fueron dañados por el crimen está incompleta. Restaurar el orden y restaurar la dignidad son, para ella, parte del mismo trabajo.
María José Duarte has been the regional security chief for Coquimbo for six weeks now, and she is ready to talk about what comes next. In a recent conversation, she laid out the architecture of her tenure: three pillars meant to reshape how the region confronts crime, from the sprawl of organized trafficking networks to the everyday violence that has hollowed out neighborhoods and made residents afraid to move through their own streets.
The first pillar is presence. Since taking office, Duarte has pushed her teams into nine communes across the region, not to announce policy from a podium but to sit with residents in their homes and community spaces. She has listened to what people actually fear, what they have lost, what they need. This is not rhetorical. She describes these conversations as the foundation of everything that follows—the direct transmission of worry from the people living inside the problem to the people tasked with solving it. The message from those encounters is consistent: bring back order. Reclaim the spaces that criminals have claimed. Make it safe to walk outside after dark.
To do that, Duarte is coordinating across police forces—Carabineros and the PDI—with what she calls coordinated strategies already in motion. The second pillar is intelligence and control. She is moving to tighten the borders, to intercept the flow of criminal organizations, weapons, and drugs before they reach the region's streets. This is not new language in security work, but it is the language of someone who understands that the problem does not originate locally; it flows in from elsewhere and must be stopped at the source.
The third pillar is technology and targeted intervention. A new-generation helicopter is coming to the region—a tool Duarte emphasizes as essential for pursuing drug traffickers and dismantling the economic networks that sustain them. Beyond hardware, she is talking about focused operations in high-risk neighborhoods, paired with programs aimed at children and young people. The logic is clear: interrupt the pipeline before it fills.
But Duarte has also named something often left unsaid in security briefings: the victims. Her policy, as she frames it, puts them at the center. Not as an afterthought, not as a gesture toward compassion, but as a structural commitment. Access to justice. Reparation. Support. She is arguing that a security strategy that ignores the people harmed by crime is incomplete, that the work of restoring order must include the work of restoring dignity to those who have already lost it.
What emerges from her account is a vision of security work that moves in three directions at once: inward, toward the communities most affected; outward, toward the borders and the networks that feed crime into the region; and forward, toward a future where the young are not funneled into criminal economies and where those who have been victimized are not left to heal alone. Whether six weeks of effort can bend the trajectory of a region shaped by years of organized crime remains an open question. But Duarte is signaling that the attempt will be comprehensive, and that it will be rooted in the actual voices of the people living inside the problem.
Citas Notables
We have conducted deployments and operations across nine communes, holding face-to-face meetings with residents who are most affected by crime and who have directly communicated their security concerns and needs to us.— María José Duarte, regional security chief
Our regional security policy places victims at the center, guaranteeing support, access to justice, and reparation.— María José Duarte, regional security chief
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does she emphasize the face-to-face conversations so much? That seems almost old-fashioned for a security operation.
Because she's trying to break a pattern. When security becomes abstract—just operations and statistics—people stop believing it's for them. She's saying: I sat in your living room and heard your fear. That changes the relationship.
The three pillars sound neat on paper. How do they actually work together?
They don't, not yet. Intelligence and border control stop drugs from arriving. Neighborhood programs stop kids from selling them. The helicopter pursues the networks. But the real test is whether those three things reinforce each other or just happen in parallel.
She mentions victims explicitly. That's unusual in a security briefing.
It is. Most security chiefs talk about crime rates and arrests. She's saying the work isn't done when the criminal is caught—it's done when the person harmed can access justice and heal. It's a different measure of success.
Six weeks in, is this realistic?
She's being honest about the timeline. She's not claiming victory. She's saying: here's the direction, here's what we're building. The helicopter is coming, not here. The programs are launching, not launched. She's asking for time and attention.
What's the hardest part of what she's describing?
Sustaining it. Presence in nine communes, intelligence operations, technology deployment, victim support—that requires coordination across multiple agencies and sustained political will. One leadership change, one budget cut, and the whole thing can collapse.