Eighteen countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have joined forces in a regional alliance to combat organized crime, a growing threat that puts the stability and security of the region at risk. With the support of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), this initiative, launched on December 12, 2024, seeks to jointly address this problem, the IDB said in a statement.
The Alliance for Security, Justice, and Development strategy is based on three key pillars: protecting vulnerable populations, strengthening security and justice institutions, and reducing illegal markets and financial flows. This approach prioritizes the implementation of policies based on evidence and concrete actions, seeking a coordinated and effective response among member countries, the IDB said.
Participating nations include Argentina, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Uruguay, demonstrating the region’s collective commitment to ensuring security and promoting development, the statement said.
“Organized crime transcends borders and combating it requires bold and coordinated regional action. The Alliance will be key to mobilizing resources, strengthening capacities, and protecting our communities,” said IDB President Ilan Goldfajn. “The initiative also seeks to forge strategic partnerships and maximize the impact of national efforts against organized crime.”
The Alliance will be led by a steering committee and three technical groups, which will include the participation of more than 20 countries. Its efforts will be focused on reducing violence in vulnerable communities, modernizing security systems through technology and collaboration, and combating illicit markets with advanced tools, the IDB said.
International collaboration
Eleven international organizations such as the Organization of American States (OAS), Interpol, the World Bank, and the United Nations Development Program joined the Alliance. Its official launch took place at the Regional Security and Justice Summit in Bridgetown, Barbados.
“These alliances turn to organizations such as Interpol, Europol, and U.S. agencies, as they have vast experience, greater resources and are highly trained in dealing with transnational threats,” Jorge Serrano, advisor to the Intelligence Commission of the Peruvian Congress, told Diálogo.
Ecuador will assume the pro tempore presidency, while the IDB will play the role of Technical Secretariat, providing strategic support and mobilizing essential resources. In the Caribbean, the Alliance will implement its actions through the One Safe Caribbean against Organized Crime program, aligned with the regional strategy ONE Caribbean 2024-2028, to guarantee synergy and efficiency in its objectives.
“This new Alliance must have the full support of the governments of each member country, with a solid commitment to internal security and sufficient human, infrastructural, technological, and economic resources to meet its objectives,” Serrano said. “In addition to political decision-making, it will be necessary to develop sustainable strategies over time to combat organized crime and drug trafficking.”
The rise of organized crime
The increase in organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean is the result of a combination of structural and historical factors. These include record drug production and the opening of new routes in countries such as Argentina, Costa Rica, and Paraguay, as well as the emergence of new consumer markets, Spanish think tank Elcano Royal Institute said in a report.
For more than four decades, the region has been a central hub for the production and trafficking of narcotics. According to the report, Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru lead the world in cocaine production, while Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Venezuela have consolidated their position as strategic export points to Europe and the United States.
At the same time, organized crime is diversifying its activities into crimes such as human trafficking, illegal mining, extortion, indiscriminate logging, and the production of synthetic drugs such as fentanyl, transforming regional and global dynamics, Elcano indicates.
Connectivity driven by technological advances generates dynamics in which “producers located in the Caribbean, Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru, are supplied with chemical precursors from Asian powers such as China, India, and Singapore, among others,” Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica magazine, a joint effort of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM), indicated in a report.
A key factor facilitating these activities is corruption, which allows criminal networks to infiltrate legal economies and carry on their impunity. According to an analysis by news site In.Visibles, a platform of journalists and academics who specialize in organized crime in Latin America, money laundering not only finances these activities, but also affects public health, justice, business competitiveness, wages, employment, investment, and the perception of security, Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica indicated.
“In addition to money laundering, the South American region faces a new and powerful criminal challenge: illegal gold mining, which in recent years has surpassed drug trafficking in terms of revenue,” Serrano said. “This crime operates alongside narcotrafficking, which in turn collaborates with terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, creating a vicious circle that corrupts the bureaucracy and exacerbates the regional crisis.”
Strengthening the war
U.S. support for the region complements the efforts of the new Alliance, strengthening security in Latin America through projects such as the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative and bilateral agreements to combat illegal activities.
“The United States is deeply involved in global security issues, with a particular emphasis on combating narcotrafficking and transnational organized crime in Latin America,” Serrano said. The influence of the United States has been decisive in the security strategies against drugs, Colombian political foundation Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung indicated in a report.
Institutions and agencies such as U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM); the DEA, and the FBI lead operations, research, and training with partner nations’ security forces of the region. In addition, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) implements programs aimed at development and prevention in vulnerable communities.
“In addition to regional alliances, confronting threats in the region requires that the three branches of government in each country, together with representatives of civil society and nongovernmental organizations work together to reduce corruption and provide full support to these types of initiatives,” Serrano said. “Narcotrafficking and organized crime are the main threats in the region.”
