Plata o plomo. The most significant characters of the most modern Latin American criminal organizations

Di Giovanni Tartaglia Polcini -
As the violence of organized crime groups linked to drugs in Latin America for decades knows no bounds, so corruption has seen the narcos progressively refine the methods to approach the public administration, also through the establishment of real negotiations at the highest levels. The recycling of narco dollars has completed the criminal design aimed to pollute the economy: today a large part of the continent suffers from the lack of security and citizens’ confidence in the institutions and from limited economic progress. The traditional criminal groups are joined by new, even more violent organizations, in some cases able to take advantage of the security measures leaks and the malfunctioning of the penitentiary systems. Essential, for the purpose of the success of any policy and operational program in this context, is the so-called. Knowledge Management Sharing, according to the rules of international technical assistance on justice and security. Only coordinated training, institutional reorganization, modernization of the regulatory framework and value sharing for the dissemination of the culture of legality will enable Latin America to engage sustainable development standards and, in particular, the Goal 16 of the United Nations Agenda 2030. The peer review mechanism of the Palermo Convention, recently approved in Vienna, and training programs such as the one financed by the European Union called EL PAcCTO, can offer – in this framework – an unrepeatable opportunity for a step change and the strengthening of law enforcement action at the strategic and general level.