The Regional Intelligence and Security Forum
A step forward against illicit trade and transnational organized crime
By: Juan Carlos Buitrago Arias | July 9, 2021
Colombia is overdue for an update to its Anti-Smuggling Law, which is almost perfect in its design but faces difficulties in its development and implementation.
It was an extraordinary opportunity to speak at the 18th Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Forum, held on June 29 and 30 in Panama City, home to the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament. The event was organized by Parlatino, Panama’s National Assembly and Crime Stoppers, an organization with a worldwide presence dedicated to fighting global crime. Participants came from 23 countries and included the United Nations University for Peace, legislators from the region and Europe, intelligence and security ministers, academic experts and researchers. The forum was chaired by Chilean Senator Jorge Pizarro, president of Parlatino, and U.S. Congressman Robert Pittenger.
Multilateral political forums of this kind are rare, especially when they are dynamic and effective in producing initiatives to combat transnational organized crime, strengthen institutional capabilities in intelligence, investigation and security, and improve cooperation among countries on sensitive issues. Parlatino has undertaken a bold and sustained effort by issuing more than 100 model laws in areas of urgent need for our democracies.
“United for Global Security” was the theme of the forum’s 18th edition. Its focus was to identify risks, challenges, threats and cutting-edge strategies to address criminal economic systems, physical and online illicit trade, cybercrime and cybersecurity, money laundering, the security challenges of 5G technologies, and best practices in public-private cooperation. Fintech companies, for example—providers of financial technology services—face a major challenge in protecting themselves from infiltration by criminal economies. Colombia’s fintech sector is growing rapidly, with more than 150 firms placing it third in Latin America.
Panama could not have been a more fitting venue for the meeting, as the issues discussed place it at the center of the problem amid the growing threat of financial crime, illicit trade, cybercrime and money laundering. The Security Minister acknowledged this, citing United Nations studies indicating that organized crime launders more than one billion dollars annually and profits through 50 illicit methods. Particularly insightful were the questions raised by Argentina’s Alejo Campos, Crime Stoppers Director for the Caribbean and Latin America. He encouraged debate by asking: “Why have our countries allowed organized crime to refine and professionalize its activities over the past two decades, gaining the ability to exert silent control over governments, infiltrate our lives, illegally subsidize economies and evade financial systems?”
Parlatino issued two fundamental laws: the asset forfeiture law and the law on illicit trade and transnational crime.
This year, Parlatino issued two fundamental laws: the asset forfeiture law and the law on illicit trade and transnational crime. It has already approved other laws that are particularly useful in our current circumstances: the framework law on citizen security and the model law for preventing and combating violence, drug trafficking and terrorism. Ecuador, for example, has just adopted an anti-smuggling law based on Parlatino’s model. Other countries should follow this example, drawing on the initiative’s valuable instruments for interagency coordination, transparency and integrity, administrative and criminal sanctions, international cooperation and illicit online trade.
Colombia is overdue for an update to Law 1762 of 2015, the Anti-Smuggling Law, which is almost perfect in its design but faces difficulties in its development and implementation. Perceptions of smuggling, counterfeiting and product adulteration have undoubtedly changed for the better. However, greater and more urgent efforts and resources are needed to reintegrate and formalize the nearly 60% of the country’s families who depend on the informal economy and illegal trade. This must go hand in hand with overcoming the cumbersome tax and customs system by simplifying, accelerating and automating processes; making the National Anti-Smuggling Center a reality; confronting corruption directly and without fear; and thoroughly modernizing our obsolete systems to facilitate and control trade at ports, airports and borders.
Economic fraud resulting from smuggling, counterfeiting and illicit trade costs the world 3% of GDP, approximately 500 billion dollars a year. In Colombia alone, the cost reaches USD 6 billion, and customs authorities, police forces and private companies make enormous efforts each year to combat it. In 2021, two major operations led by Interpol, Europol and Ameripol targeted the global illicit markets in medicines and agro-industrial products, as well as online fraud. Nevertheless, despite the efforts of more than 72 countries participating in these operations, institutional capacity in Latin America and the Caribbean remains very weak.
Aruba and Panama, for example, are major gateways for smuggled cigarettes and alcohol entering the Caribbean and Latin America. Large shipments are secretly unloaded on the Atlantic coast. Those that escape seizure cross Colombia’s Pacific coast to supply the domestic illegal market on a smaller scale and, primarily, Ecuador’s market, where the share reaches 79%. Just last week, a container from Panama carrying almost 11 million cigarettes of Asian origin was seized in Guayaquil. In Colombia, over the past year, the Navy, POLFA and DIAN, supported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and private companies, have seized a record 600 million smuggled cigarettes. This shows that criminal networks continue to infiltrate our economies. Cigarettes and alcohol are undoubtedly harmful to health, but consuming these products through the illegal market is equally or even more harmful, as that market sustains multiple forms of crime.
Article originally published in Las2orillas: https://www.las2orillas.co/el-foro-regional-de-inteligencia-y-seguridad/
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