Asunción: A Colombian expert warns of the advance of organized crime in the country and in the region. He considers the HC-US situation to be difficult, it is virtually impossible for the US to lift the sanctions against former President Horacio Cartes.

In an interview, Juan Carlos Buitrago, retired general of the Colombian National Police, former director of the Colombian Tax and Customs Police and founder and CEO of the consulting firm Strategos BIP, commented on the critical situation in the region, the growth of criminal groups and their increasing influence on politics and state organs.

Regarding the situation of Horacio Cartes and the sanctions imposed on him by the US government, he expressed his doubts about a change in the attitude of the new administration of Donald Trump. Buitrago said drug trafficking and smuggling cartels are linked to the murder of prosecutor Marcelo Pecci.

General, I ask you the question from the title of your book on corruption, crime and violence: Can we defeat the thousand-headed hydra?

My answer is categorical: no, as long as corruption in power continues to metastasize, the political machinery continues to rule, the new leaders allow themselves to be contaminated by politics, and the spiral of crime and violence continues to form the perfect habitat for the hydra to regenerate in the region.

Who are the main minds of this Hydra, and in what order must they be fought?

Without a doubt, corruption. Where there is crime, there is corruption. It is the main driver of crime, violence and institutional weakness that affect society as a whole.

What is what you call the "triangular strategy"?

The Strategy of the Triangles is a public-private initiative in Latin America and the Caribbean that aims to prevent and combat illicit trafficking and organized crime in the region. It is divided into three chapters: the Northern Triangle, which is centered in Mexico, the Central Triangle in Panama, and the Southern Triangle in Argentina. Each triangle is made up of customs, taxation, judicial, police and border authorities, supported by the industry of each country affected by illicit trafficking, as well as the OAS Department for Combating Transnational Organized Crime, Ameripol, Interpol, Europol, the UN University for Peace, the Foundation for the Investigation of Money Laundering (FELADE), the US HSI and other multilateral associations for the protection of legitimate trade and trafficking. intellectual property. The big difference of this mechanism is that it integrates the efforts of the private sector, academia, multilateral organizations and authorities with a strategic, technical, regulatory and operational approach through the exchange of information for exploitable, investigative purposes to prevent and dismantle transnational criminal economic systems.

How did CIMA (Central de Investigación, Monitoreo y Análisis del Comercio Ilícito) become the largest database on illicit trafficking in Latin America?

CIMA has become the leading tool for the prevention and investigation of illicit trafficking and organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean, and is operated by a team of professionals, analysts, and experts in intelligence, investigations, money laundering, illicit trafficking, and organized crime. It also has artificial intelligence applications that contribute to a better understanding of the phenomenon of illicit trafficking and measures to curb it.

How is it progressing and who supports these proposals? And if they have already produced measurable results, what are they?

The results of CIMA are extraordinary. In its two years of existence, numerous public authorities, universities, multilateral organizations and private companies have access to and benefit from its products. We have supported the public and private sectors with numerous trainings, the exchange of best practices and structured information on the illicit trade chain of various products and the mafia gangs that monopolize the criminal business and gain money and assets from drug trafficking through the smuggling or counterfeiting of products such as cigarettes, alcohol, medicines, clothing, household appliances, minerals, fuels and agricultural products.

How do you see Paraguay's role in the region and the existing anti-crime program?

Paraguay has great potential for development, but the hydra with the thousand heads is anchored in the DNA of politics, the judiciary, the authorities and part of the private sector. I have had very good relations with speakers at the highest level who have recognized these grave phenomena and who feel a deep national feeling to contribute to the elimination of this hydra of evil with quick and effective measures. In my opinion – and the facts confirm this – drug trafficking uses corruption, smuggling and the pronounced weakness of institutions to co-opt the state and subjugate it to its criminal interests. And the main symptom is the increase in violence and targeted assassinations of leading representatives of the judiciary and the government, who do not negotiate their principles and fight with character and determination against the most powerful mafias in the country.

What risk does the intrusion of persons associated with organized crime into politics and state security agencies pose to the fight against organized crime?

As has happened in Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador and other countries in the region, the assumption of political power by the mafia leads to the questioning of the essential objectives of the state, the metastasis of institutions and the exercise of a perverse regulation that allows it to accumulate power, money and territorial control. It is then very complex and costly to restore these lost spaces as well as the integrity of officials and institutions.

What is the connection between cigarette smuggling, drug trafficking and terrorism?

The evidence is clear. A recent Europol study has shown this. The smuggling and production of cigarettes for illicit commercial purposes in Europe, Asia and Latin America is mainly used for money laundering by drug trafficking organisations, which find a favourable niche in the countries most affected by this phenomenon for the acquisition of quantities of cigarettes and their illegal marketing on the international market, this criminal economy having various negative consequences in terms of revenues, security, crime and violence.

Do you think that after Donald Trump's victory, there could be a change in the sanctions policy against former President Horacio Cartes?

While the decisions of the United States in this area may have political implications, the foundations and foundations of these decisions are technical, legal and irrefutable evidence. It is the federal agencies that conduct the investigations and present the evidence to the government officials responsible for these decisions.

How do you assess the situation in the case of the murder of prosecutor Marcelo Pecci?

I am confident that the people behind it will be brought to justice immediately. All international justice focuses on the transparency, efficiency and due process of the Colombian and Paraguayan judicial systems.

What does the future of the fight against organized crime in the region look like?

The specialized studies that we read daily on organized crime in the region, not only those of the authorities, but also those of multilateral organizations such as UNDOC, PACCTO, Interpol, Ameripol, Europol and private research and think tanks such as the Global Crime Initiative IGC, Insight Crime, StrategosBIP, Crime Stoppers, KPMG, TRACIT, all agree that corruption, crime and violence in the region are increasing exponentially. In all indicators, LATAM and the Caribbean are in first or second place. Forty of the world's 50 most violent cities are located in the region, and most of them are in the port and/or border areas of Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil, suggesting that the drug mafia is making progress in the struggle to control the international trade chain, allowing it to export drugs and import contraband to launder the criminal money. As long as the corruption that has spread in power is not eradicated, it will hardly be possible to eliminate the thousand-headed hydra that has found the perfect habitat in the region to regenerate.

What is your greatest fear in this fight of the states against criminal groups?

The existence of mafias anchored in the DNA of power, which operate with the appearance of legality in illegality, without caring about the catastrophic impact on the future of our nations, leaving a legacy without values and principles, with a terrible point of reference for our young people, where the acquisition of quick and easy money and the accumulation of power in the end are the essence and the reason for their existence. When the end justifies the means, society is on the verge of extinction.

His profile

Retired brigadier general of the Colombian National Police. Former Director of the Colombian Tax and Customs Police. In 2020, founder and CEO of the regional consulting firm Strategos BIP.

Colombian expert in security and cross-border crime, retired brigadier general of the Colombian National Police Juan Carlos Buitrago, founder and managing director of the regional consulting firm Strategos BIP

Buitrago has more than 33 years of experience in combating terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering, cross-border organized crime, cybercrime, smuggling, counterfeiting and much more.
He is a police and corporate administrator with an international program for executives and a BASC auditor. He is an expert in security, criminal investigations, strategic, operational and counterintelligence.

He has been trained and worked with intelligence agencies, investigative agencies, prosecutors, customs, law enforcement, intellectual property authorities, and border guards around the world, including Europol, Ameripol, Interpol, HSI, and FBI.

Juan Carlos Buitrago's most recent publication is a book titled Can We Defeat the Thousand-Headed Hydra, and he has published another publication, Principles Are Not Negotiable, in which he shares his own experience.