Ecuador works with regional and international partners to combat drug trafficking

By Lorena Baires

Ecuador has pledged to strengthen its collaboration and coordination among partner nations with the support of AMERIPOL and EUROPOL through the Latin American Interior Security Committee (CLASI), as a strategy to improve security in the hemisphere, Argentine news site Infobae reports.

“Today we must confront organized crime without borders,” said Ecuador’s Government Minister Monica Palencia, as she assumed the pro tempore presidency of CLASI on March 13. “We are fighting for the security of a people who wish for democratic freedom, freedom of expression and enterprise, with social responsibility.”

CLASI was created on March 2, 2022, as a project for analysis and coordination to address transnational organized crime in Latin America. Its tasks include the elaboration of multi-year strategic plans and the strengthening of AMERIPOL as a police cooperation body in the region.

In addition, the committee coordinates the State response to internal or external conflicts and promotes security dialogue between Latin America and the European Union. Its basic mission is to combat organized crime, cyberattacks such as data theft, attacks on critical infrastructure, and online disinformation, which can have a significant impact on national security and social stability, Ecuadorian daily Primicias reported.

The committee is made up of representatives from the interior ministries of several Latin American countries. It was initially formed by Argentina, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, and Panama, with Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, and Uruguay joining later. Peru is in the process of joining. In March 2024, Ecuador assumed the pro tempore presidency for a one-year period.

Upon taking on the leadership, Ecuador proposed to coordinate public security policies for Latin America, evaluate the creation of new cooperation agreements, promote operational action plans, and manage a meeting of CLASI police liaison officers, among others, Ecuadorian daily La Hora reported.

“Since 2017, through AMERIPOL, Latin American law enforcement agencies have received specialized training from the top law enforcement institutions in the world. For example, the training that the Center for Cybercrime Investigation and Cybersecurity [Center for CIC], from Boston University, provided to a large group of South American police officers in cryptocurrency tracking and cybercrime,” Colombian Police Lieutenant Colonel (ret.) Mike Toro, a cybersecurity expert and researcher at the Center for CIC, told Diálogo on April 15. “This kind of training will surely be on the support agenda for Ecuador, as will the detection of illegal drugs, such as fentanyl, on the dark web, and a rising area in citizen security: the implementation of police robots.”

“The foresight that gave birth to AMERIPOL in November 2007 will inject new lines of collaboration,” Toro added. “Citizen cybersecurity and digital forensics based on machine learning algorithms with artificial intelligence will not only allow to respond to armed actors, but also to anticipate crimes and predict violence trends affecting Ecuadorians.”

According to the news site Primicias, Ecuador has already proposed some lines of cooperation in security matters with the Netherlands and Chile, including information exchanges, support with technology, review of drug trafficking routes, and the creation of specialized units.

“One of the first actions to strengthen cooperation between countries and improve regional security in Latin America is the exchange of intelligence between security forces. This mechanism makes it possible to share information on threats and transnational crimes, as well as effective strategies to combat them,” Alexandra Mantilla Allan, an Ecuadorian criminal profiler and forensic investigations consultant, told Diálogo. “This will allow for the creation of agreements to extradite criminals and coordinate joint operations. Likewise, this will promote the creation of police cooperation centers in Latin America, so that agents from different countries can work in coordination against transnational crime.”

The internationalization of criminal networks has contributed to the explosion of violence in Ecuador, Anna Ayusso, a researcher at the Center for International Affairs in Barcelona, said in a report. “They stopped using the country as a transit route and turned it into a cocaine distribution center, destined for Europe and North America,” she said.

“Cooperation is fundamental to establish strategies to reduce narcotrafficking,” Mantilla Allan added. “The fight against narcotrafficking requires prevention and border control measures, strengthening of intelligence and criminal investigation, development of rehabilitation programs, social reinsertion, and cooperation between the public and private sectors.”