Zeballos specializes in intelligence, international terrorism, emerging threats, transnational organized crime, extralegal governance and dangerous religious groups. He holds a degree in Advanced Public Security Administration and served for 20 years as an officer in the Chilean Carabineros. For more than 13 years he has worked as a consultant and field researcher in Latin America, focused on criminal dynamics and their social, political and institutional impact. For the past five years, he has served as Director for the Southern Cone region at IBI Consultants.
He was a member of the Expert Advisory Panel of Chile’s Ministry of Security on new criminal phenomena affecting the country and an advisor to the Minister of Justice and Human Rights on security and prison-crisis matters. Zeballos belongs to the NET 4U Network; the Regional Network of the Americas of Civil Society for implementation of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime; the Center for Analysis for Democracy (CAD Latam); and the In.Visibles team, a regional platform of journalists and academics specializing in organized crime and human rights. He is also co-founder of the Research Center on Violence and Organized Crime (CIVYCO).
His responsibilities within the Collaborative include training and guidance for collaborators as requested. Zeballos is the author of three books and dozens of academic studies, newspaper columns and essays.