Organized crime costs Central America billions

By Sergio Ramos / ISH

Organized crime-related violence cost Central America US$6.506 billion, representing a 7.7% decrease to Central America’s US$263.39 billion gross domestic product (GDP), according to the latest World Bank study.

The cost of violence in El Salvador is equal to 10.8% (US$2.01 billion) of the GDP, followed by Nicaragua’s 10% (US$529 million) of the GDP, Honduras’ 9.6% (US$885 million), Guatemala’s 7.7% (US$2.291 billion) and Costa Rica’s 3.6% (US$791 million), according to the World Bank, which didn’t include Panama and Belize in its analysis.

Organized crime threatens security, human rights and democracy, while inhibiting the region’s economic development.

The rates of crime and corruption are the two major factors impeding business in the region, according to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) “Global Competitiveness Report 2013.”

In Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, crime is the main factor inhibiting investment. In Nicaragua and Mexico, it’s corruption.

Eight Latin American countries – Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela – are among the 50 nations worldwide that spend the most on combating violence, according to the 2013 Global Peace Index, published by the Institute for Economics and Peace.

Violence demands additional government spending due to the increase in police work and judicial proceedings. It also decreases productivity among companies, slows investment, and drives up public health expenditures and costs associated with the hiring of private security by individuals and companies, according to the World Bank.

Regional integration

Central America has a rate of 41 homicides for every 100,000 residents, according to a 2012 report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The countries with the highest rates are Honduras (88.5), El Salvador (69.2) and Belize (41.4). Nicaragua (12.6) and Costa Rica (10) have the lowest rates. In Mexico, the rate is 23.7 homicides per 100,000 residents.

One of the region’s problems in fighting organized crime is that each country has its own set of laws, creating impunity and making international cooperation more difficult. As a result, Central America is used as a transit area for drugs, according to a report by the Central American Integration System (SICA).

SICA leaders received the Legislative Framework for the Fight Against Organized Crime in Central America and the Dominican Republic on June 27 in San José, Costa Rica. The proposal will be analyzed by the block’s eight countries as they try to find common ground for legislation throughout the region.

“Harmonizing the laws would allow for cooperation between countries, overcoming long-standing concepts of national sovereignty that often only serve to protect the interests of the worst criminals,” SICA said in a prepared statement.

The idea is to create joint investigative teams, increase security for criminal transfers, witness protection programs and extraditions and improve evidence sharing.

“The creation of [harmonized penal codes] in the legal systems of the various countries would represent a turning point in the fight against organized crime, removing safe havens for criminals,” said Marvin Aguilar García, the vice president of the Supreme Court of Nicaragua.

Attacks against democracy

During the campaign for regional elections in Mexico on July 7, two mayoral candidates and a campaign coordinator were killed, two candidates vying to be representatives were attacked and two campaign headquarters were struck by gunshots.

“It has become clear that democracy is threatened,” said Andrea Castagnola, a doctor in political sciences from the University of Pittsburgh in the United States. “The municipal elections have become important for drug traffickers, given the elected mayor will decide whether the criminals can continue to pass through their territory and use their routes. In situations like these, democracy has no meaning whatsoever.”

Criminal groups also have corrupted officials so they can traffic humans and illicit goods freely through the region in addition to laundering money – all with impunity. Cartels and crime groups also rule some areas as though they are the police, greatly increasing residents’ fears.

This situation is described in detail in the “Organized crime, the State and Democracy” report by the Foundation for International Relations and Foreign Dialogue (FRIDE).

“This violence is clearly the work of organized crime,” said Catholic Bishop Raúl Vera López of the Diocese of Saltillo in northern Mexico. “The political parties and the Attorney General must stop it because it’s going to get worse, and at some point the [drug traffickers] are going to put [into elected positions] the people they want.”

Corrupting democracy is important for organized crime, according to “The Drug Problem in the Americas” report by the Organization of American States (OAS), released in Bogotá, Colombia, on May 17.

“The illegal drug economy requires bribery, collusion and a willingness of public servants to hide [the criminals’] operations. Organized crime cannot exist without corruption,” the report said.

About 140,000 people have been displaced since 2007 due to the violence of drug cartels in Mexico, according to a report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center.

“Drug trafficking involves the bribery not just of officials but also of the civilian population,” said Nelson Arteaga, a researcher with the Latin American Social Sciences Institute (FLACSO) in Mexico City. “Drug traffickers form alliances and transform themselves into false social redeemers. As a result, the whole society is contaminated by the presence of organized crime.”

The region is home to 24% of the world’s marijuana users and 45% of cocaine users, according to the OAS report.

The OAS recommends public policies aimed at limiting the availability of drugs, promoting healthy lifestyles, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation initiatives, as well as a substantial reduction in drug sentences, except in cases where the individual’s conduct poses a risk to society.

“The governments of the region need to turn around and start treating drugs as a social problem and a public health problem, not just a criminal problem,” Arteaga said.