On September 5, 2024, the CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean hosted the 27th Annual CAF Conference at the Organization of American States, Washington, D.C. The conference, open to the public, gathered regional leaders, policymakers, and experts to discuss key challenges and opportunities for Latin America’s development. The Transnational Organized Crime in the Western Hemisphere panel discussed the impact of transnational crime on the region’s economic development and ways to combat it.
Juan Carlos Pinzón, former Minister of Defense and former Ambassador of Colombia to the United States, moderated the panel and opened by underscoring that Latin America and the Caribbean is the most violent regions in the world, with the highest homicide rates globally. He noted that crimes such as drug trafficking, illegal mining, and human trafficking are driven by organizations that operate seamlessly across borders in every direction. Through corruption, these groups influence politics, control communities, and compete for territorial dominance. The drivers, he argued, include inequality, lack of opportunity, and the unchecked growth of criminal organizations.
Frank Ábrego, Minister of Security of Panama, emphasized the complexity of transnational crime within the context of the regional migration crisis. He distinguished between two migration flows: families and individuals seeking opportunity, and those involved in criminal activity. Panama, with U.S. support and biometric technology, has been able to identify and deport some individuals linked to criminal networks. However, the screen cannot detect all entrants due to resource constraints and the sheer scale of undocumented migration. He noted that groups like the Gulf Clan now facilitate crossings for people from far beyond the hemisphere, including India and China. He stressed that migration and organized crime are increasingly connected.
Roberta Jacobson, founding partner at Dinámica Americas and former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, argued that transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) function like transnational corporations, making it insufficient to simply remove the leaders of these organizations. The high-value target approach can splinters groups into multiple factions after leadership removal. She warned that TCOs erode democratic institutions from within, hollowing them out to facilitate illicit trade, and rejected the notion that organized crime is solely a supply-country problem. She urged greater attention to financial structures, following the money, and targeting operational and administrative components of TCOs. She also highlighted the importance of community-based approaches, especially working with women and mothers to build resilience against criminal influence.
Rubén Ramírez Lezcano, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay, noted that security dynamics vary across the hemisphere—production challenges in some countries, transit challenges in others—but that issues like money laundering and illicit migration are universal. He stressed the centrality of strengthening democracy, pointing to Venezuela’s collapse as a regional destabilizer, and described poverty as a driver of migration and vulnerability to crime, with a disproportionate impact on children. According to the Inter-American Development Bank, transnational crime costs the region 3.5 percent of GDP annually. Ramírez called for multidimensional security strategies addressing drugs, arms, people, and money, and highlighted the importance of a coordinated action plan. He underscored the urgency of convening a hemispheric security summit, the first in more than two decades.
Albert Ramdin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Suriname, echoed the call for hemispheric collaboration, stressing that no single country can solve the problem. While intelligence sharing has improved, operational capacity remains uneven; some states can track criminal activity but lack the equipment or resources to act. He urged development of a security roadmap, stronger cross-border agreements, and targeted action on firearms trafficking, including from exporting countries whose products fuel violence in the region, including gender-based violence. Addressing inequality, poverty, and social exclusion, he said, is essential to combating citizen insecurity over the long term.
Ivan Marques, Secretary for Multidimensional Security at the Organization of American States (OAS), framed TCOs as diversified corporate entities engaged in multiple illicit economies. In 2022, he noted, financial crimes were the top revenue source for these groups, followed by human trafficking and migrant smuggling, environmental crimes, drug trafficking, and arms trafficking, with over 70 percent of regional homicides committed with firearms. He presented three OAS proposals: creating multisectoral coalitions involving public, private, and multilateral actors; adopting comprehensive, regionally coordinated strategies with greater investment in prevention and research; and increasing investment in human capital and technology.
In closing, Pinzón reiterated that defeating organized crime requires more than enforcement. It demands layered social policy, international cooperation, and action against political corruption. Without such measures, he warned, criminal organizations can reinvent themselves, infiltrate governments, and even capture state power. The panel’s consensus was clear: combating transnational organized crime in the hemisphere requires coordinated, multidimensional action that addresses root causes while dismantling the economic and institutional foundations that sustain these networks.
WATCH THE EVENT RECORDING HERE:
