The Inter-American Dialogue and the Citizen Security Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) hosted a private conversation with Alejandra Monteoliva, minister of National Security of Argentina and chair of the IDB’s Alliance for Security, Justice, and Development.
Monteoliva opened by presenting Argentina’s current security indicators. She described Argentina as the country with the lowest homicide rate in Latin America, at 3.7 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, and noted that homicides declined in 15 of the country’s 24 jurisdictions in 2025. She also highlighted a geographic concentration of violence. At the start of the administration, 90 percent of homicides occurred in 10 percent of the territory; that share has since contracted to 7 percent.
The most significant case is Rosario, which recorded a homicide rate of 20 per 100,000 inhabitants when the government took office in late 2023, five times the national average. Through Plan Bandera, a coordinated effort between the national government, the province of Santa Fe, and the city of Rosario, homicides fell by 65 percent. Monteoliva attributed this to political will, evidence-based planning, and sustained intergovernmental coordination. She described Rosario’s recovery of tourism and cultural life as evidence of the direct link between security and economic development.
On organized crime, Monteoliva drew a distinction between local criminal organizations and the linkages connecting them to larger transnational networks. She noted that the leadership and second tiers of the main local groups, including Los Monos and the Alvarado clan, are now held within Argentina’s high-risk detention system. The government is targeting the third and fourth tiers of these organizations, as well as their financial and legal networks. She also highlighted the incorporation of the Federal Penitentiary Service into the security ministry as a reform that has significantly improved criminal intelligence gathering from inside prisons.
The minister also described the northern border as a critical axis of the drug trafficking challenge. The government has implemented three territorial plans along its nearly 4,000 kilometers of northern frontier: Plan Güemes on the Salta-Bolivia border, Plan Guaçurarí in Misiones on the Brazilian border, and Plan Paraná along the waterway. These operations have produced a 51 percent increase in seizure productivity, reaching seizures of 13,000 kilograms of cocaine and 115,000 kilograms of marijuana in the past year.
Looking ahead, she argued that international cooperation is fundamental to tackling the security challenges. She noted that projects such as the upcoming bioceanic corridor represent areas where infrastructure development and security risks converge, and where no single country can manage them alone. It is precisely that logic that is driving Argentina’s push for a second tripartite command with Chile and Bolivia, modeled on the Argentina–Brazil–Paraguay command, with a draft agreement already circulating and presidential commitment from all three countries.
The overarching conclusion was that organized crime is a transnational phenomenon that no country can confront alone. Operational coordination, intelligence sharing, and interinstitutional collaboration are essential for any effective response. The stakes extend well beyond public safety: crime and insecurity cost the Latin American region an estimated 3.4 percent of GDP annually, making effective security policy inseparable from development, democratic governance, and citizen wellbeing.
This event was by invitation only.
