Latin America and the Caribbean launch a regional alliance against organized crime

The Inter-American Development Bank announced on Thursday the launch of a regional alliance of security against crime which brings together 18 governments from Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as several international financial institutions.

“Security must be part of the solution to our economic progress,” Ilan Goldfajn, president of the IDB, told reporters before the launch of the project in Barbados.

“Organized crime has no national borders,” he said. “We are trying to organize ourselves into a regional initiative.”

According to a recent IDB study, crime costs an average of 3.4% of GDP throughout the region, which is equivalent to almost 80% of public education budgets, double social assistance and 12 times the expenditure in research and development.

The IDB will provide $1 billion in financing for projects aligned with the initiative next year, Goldfajn added, and plans to mobilize public and private donors to raise more funds.

The bank said the projects include regional sharing of criminal records between alliance members and meetings to discuss money laundering linked to illegal mining in the Amazon.

Goldfajn said the plan has a strong social focus, seeking to reduce the vulnerabilities of communities, as well as strengthen the police, state justice institutions and crack down on financial crime.

The alliance has notable regional exceptions, such as the United States, which, according to Goldfajn, will not participate. The president of the organization said that the IDB was in talks with Mexico and Colombia, two other exceptions, which could join later.

The alliance also includes the Organization of American States, the Caribbean Community, INTERPOL, the World Bank and regional development banks.

Last year, CARICOM leaders said crime is a public health problem and promised a series of measures, including regional arrest warrants, a ban on assault weapons and support for a Mexican lawsuit seeking to hold drug manufacturers accountable. American weapons from illegal trafficking to criminal groups outside its borders.

The case has reached the United States Supreme Court. About 51% of firearms traced in Central America come from the United States, according to US government data, as well as 68% in Mexico and 80% throughout the Caribbean.

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