With the aim of creating an elite force to dismantle transnational criminal organizations operating in Peru, more than 300 agents of the Peruvian National Police (PNP) will receive training from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (HSI), the Peruvian government announced.
“Given the constant increase in organized crime and narcotrafficking in recent years in Latin America, the effectiveness of this collaboration with the United States is fundamental,” Fabián Calle, professor of International Relations at Argentina’s Austral University, told Diálogo on April 14.
Peru’s President Dina Boluarte announced on March 22 that PNP troops will form a Transnational Crime Investigation Unit (TCIU), under training by U.S. agents.
The TCIUs, an HSI program, are comprised of vetted and trained foreign law enforcement officials worldwide who work closely with HSI to investigate and prosecute individuals involved in transnational criminal activity.
“The TCIU will have an arsenal of exceptional resources to confront and dismantle foreign mafias, who represent a threat to the stability of the country,” Las Américas daily reported. “Among the transnational crimes to be tackled are drug trafficking, illegal trafficking of precious minerals and extortion, among others.”
Dispute among criminals
According to Peruvian news agency Andina, the police officers will work closely with the HSI, which will be responsible for training them in specific tasks against organized crime groups. The PNP, which currently has 135,000 law enforcement officers, is facing an increasingly challenging scenario marked by violence and contract killings, for which U.S. support is significant, Las Americas reported.
“Criminal organizations in Peru are quarrelling with Colombian organizations for the top cocaine producer status,” Calle said. “The production of narcotics in Peru, Bolivia, and part of which coming from Colombia, is mainly destined for Europe and markets in our region.”
According to Argentine news site Infobae, the HSI instructors who will train Peruvian police officers have essential information and specialized skills to confront transnational criminal groups.
The candidates chosen from the PNP to integrate the first generation of elite TCIU agents have a high level of training and ethical courage, an impeccable service record, and passed polygraph tests, Infobae reported.
Main enemy
According to InSight Crime, an organization that studies organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean, Peru, just like other South American countries, is concerned about the growing presence of the Tren de Aragua, Venezuela’s largest criminal organization.
During his presentation to Peru’s Congress on April 3, Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzén said the government will also strengthen the PNP’s Special Group against Organized Crime to eliminate the Tren de Aragua and its factions, which “today constitute the main enemy of society,” Peruvian daily Correo reported
“By December 2024 we expect to carry out 160 special operations, which will allow us to dismantle at least 80 gangs and criminal organizations,” Adrianzén said.
Ecuadorian criminal gangs Los Choneros and Los Triguerones also operate in Peru, seeking to control ports in the north of the country for narcotrafficking and illegal mining, among other criminal activities, Peruvian daily El Comercio reported.
“Organized crime has made a significant quantitative leap in Latin America,” said Calle. “An example of this is the crime rates, which have made Latin American cities the most insecure in the world, in addition to generating corruption, violence, and political destabilization in the region.”
The Institute of Democracy and Human Rights (IDEHPUCP) of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru warned about the increase in crimes that endanger vulnerable sectors.
“The [Peruvian] Amazon and environmental defenders are at permanent and growing risk,” the IDEHPUCP indicated. “The country began 2024 with the murder of 33 defenders of its territories and forests, perpetrated by organized crime, increasingly linked to illegal gold mining.”
The TCIU program
In September 2023, the HSI and the Peruvian government signed a memorandum of cooperation for the fight against transnational crime, marking the beginning of Peruvian participation in the TCIU program, the U.S. Embassy in Peru indicated. HSI Deputy Director of International Operations David Magdycz and PNP Commander General Jorge Angulo signed the agreement.
“Faced with this international, hemispheric, regional, and national reality, one of the greatest challenges for the political and social elites is to confront the crimes of the countries with international security agencies,” Calle said.
The HSI’s international TCIU program began in September 2011 and has more than 600 international law enforcement agents vetted and trained in 15 locations in North America, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Asia.
The TCIU identifies targets, collects evidence, and shares intelligence working with international partners to investigate and prosecute individuals involved in transnational criminal activities that threaten the stability and national security of the region.
“Criminal networks know no borders. The only alternative for democratic countries is to create effective networks together to combat them, which is why the training and input that the United States can give to the security forces of nations in the region is conclusive in combating organized crime,” Calle concluded.