Global cocaine trafficking is reaching record levels, authorities say, and the Latin American region remains home to several of the world’s top producers. Photo by Mart Production/Pexels
This is part of an occasional series on organized crime in Latin America.
Using new and improved technology should support efforts to combat the sharp rise in crime and drug trafficking across Latin America, representatives from several countries have agreed.
This unanimity come as global cocaine trafficking reaches record levels and the region remains home to several of the world’s top producers.
Speaking Tuesday at a regional online conference organized by Legado a las Américas, Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich emphasized the need to equip law enforcement with the best available tools to fight organized crime.
“We’re in a difficult moment for security,” Bullrich said, adding that a key priority is to close the gap in resources between law enforcement and criminal groups.
She said that if criminals are using technology to improve communication, launder money through cryptocurrencies and commit cyber fraud, then security forces need the best tools “to pursue them, geolocate them, track the coordinates they use and understand how they communicate.”
At the event, Uruguayan Sen. Nicolás Martinelli, a former interior minister, said technology can support efforts to fight organized crime and drug trafficking. But he questioned whether countries in the region are ready for the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution, where the use of artificial intelligence could infringe on personal privacy.
Martinelli emphasized the need to establish public security policies as long-term state strategies that do not change with each new government.
“In the most insecure countries, 70% to 75% of people are willing to give up privacy in exchange for greater security — and therefore more freedom. The more unsafe we feel, the more we isolate ourselves, and in doing so, we gradually lose our freedom,” Martinelli said.
Another participant, Cibar Benítez, secretary of Paraguay’s National Defense Council, said cooperation between police and military forces is essential to national security.
“Organized crime isn’t made up of simple gangs, but of organizations with a defined structure — even a hierarchy — that use technology to commit crimes ranging from white-collar offenses to extreme violence,” Benítez said.
During the event, Bullrich also noted that cocaine exports from Latin America have risen by 30% in recent years. Drug seizures have increased at a similar rate — a sign, she said, of governments’ efforts to combat trafficking.
Bullrich cited the government of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa as an example, noting that his administration is confronting criminal gangs that have pushed Ecuador’s crime rate to one of the highest in the region over the past decade.
She also discussed reforms to Argentina’s federal police aimed at transforming the force into a specialized federal criminal investigation agency — modeled after Brazil’s Federal Police, Chile’s investigative police and the FBI.
“It no longer has just one role. Its core missions are now state security and criminal investigation,” she said.
