President Javier Milei’s government has announced it will apply Argentina’s new “anti-mafia law” in the troubled city of Rosario, Santa Fe Province – a move officials described as the next step in its “all-out war” on organised crime.
The decision, announced by the National Security Ministry through Resolution 572/2025 and published in the Official Gazette on Friday, grants federal security forces expanded powers to investigate and prosecute criminal organisations operating in the region.
Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, a key backer of the law, celebrated the move on social media, declaring that “this all-out war is one we are winning.”
Warning drug-traffickers and gang members they would face consequences for their crimes, she declared that “if a gang commits a crime, all of them fall – not one by one, but all together.”
Approved during special sessions in March, Law 27.786 – commonly referred to as the Anti-Mafia Law – introduces harsher penalties for members of criminal organisations.
Crucially, it allows prosecutors to request the same sentence for all members of a gang, regardless of their individual role, if they operate in a coordinated manner over time and in specific territories.
It also enables judicially authorised intervention zones with sweeping investigative powers, including detentions, raids, wiretaps and asset seizures.
Rosario now becomes the first city nationwide where the law will be applied. The Security Ministry has asked federal judges to designate it a “special investigation zone” following a request by Santa Fe Province Governor Maximiliano Pullaro.
The decision is grounded in a report by the National Directorate of Criminal Intelligence, which identified ongoing activity by criminal groups involved in drug-trafficking, money-laundering, extortion and other illicit activities.
Earlier this year, Bullrich and Pullaro launched a joint security plan to combat spiralling violence.
Rosario is Argentina's third-largest city, with a population of 1.3 million, and situated on the Paraná river. It has become a hotspot for the movement of drugs from Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay headed to Europe and Asia.
The city has the worst homicide rate in the country: 22 per 100,000 inhabitants, five times the national average.
Residents in Rosario have been rocked by repeated shootings, high-profile killings and a surge in gang activity.
Governor Pullaro declared a state of emergency in early 2024.
– TIMES/NA/AFP
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