Wildlife trafficking threatens food security and livelihoods in developing countries. In the Neotropics, primates have been used for millennia by indigenous people for different purposes such as consumption, pets, cultural artifacts, and traditional medicine. In more recent times, hunting has become commercialized and primate harvests have increased to fulfill demands from the bushmeat trade, biomedical research, and tourist markets. Hunting, live primate capture for biomedical research, the pet and entertainment trade, and traditional uses are all implicated in the trade in Neotropical primates over much of their range. Lack of interest by many governments in range countries and beyond, and the resulting lack of accountability and transparency of legal systems in range countries make illegal trade untraceable. Illegal trade often goes unchecked and unpunished, leading to the impoverishment of both wildlife and forests in the region.