Former Colombian defense minister and ambassador to the United States Juan Carlos Pinzón attributed organized crime in Latin America to the underlying instability of the current global power competition at a Thursday talk sponsored by the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC).
Roughly 20 attendees gathered in Encina Hall to hear the presentation, “Geopolitics, National Security, and Organized Crime,” which CISAC visiting fellow Sanjeev Khagram ’90, M.A. ’90, PhD ’98 moderated.
The talk came amid increasing Chinese efforts to improve ties with Latin America and increase trade. By creating a direct sea corridor between Shanghai and Peru, China aims to advance their standing within the global power competition, especially against the United States. Russia has also sought greater influence in Latin America, with three Latin American countries – Brazil, Colombia and Mexico – refusing to sign a document condemning Russian aggression at the Ukraine Peace Summit last year.
Current trends show that some organized crime in Latin America is growing and diversifying, particularly through increasing homicide rates.
“The Institute for International Studies brings global leaders from around the world to share their ideas and perspectives,” Khagram said. “We wanted [Ambassador Pinzón] to share where he saw Colombia’s future and Latin America’s future in the context of global geopolitics, which is so complex and challenging.”
Pinzón served as Colombia’s youngest Minister of Defense, Chief of Staff to President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón and Ambassador to the United States under President Barack Obama. He is currently a visiting professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
In the past, Pinzón has shown his support for increasing the U.S. funding package for security and development to Colombia through the “Peace Colombia” plan. Pinzón also ran for the Colombian presidency in 2017 with the support of the digital social movement “Colombia Above All.”
Pinzón warned that unless organized crime is “confronted globally” with consistent international rules and the logic that “crime is crime and you go after it,” a variety of “interpretations” can arise. He said that such variation in interpretations may provide justification for crimes, and allow these patterns to continue.
“Being the friend of the United States, having a stable world, was once very plain and very clear. That’s changing,” Pinzón said. “As it’s changed, one of the things that I’ve been seeing is that organized crime in multiple places of the world, including Latin America – certainly my own country – is taking advantage of this.”
Pinzón said that he was beginning to witness “democratic backsliding” in Latin America as a consequence of states favoring “alliances of interest” rather than “alliances of values.”
While Pinzón served as defense minister in Colombia, he worked to reduce cocaine production and increase economic development, with the “hope that everything [was] going to be solved.” However, as Colombia now has more cocaine fields than ever before, Pinzón believes that “hope is not a solution.”
“Cocaine issues are now happening everywhere,” Pinzón said. “We need to work better, because that money, from Colombian experience, immediately translates into corruption.”
Héctor Fuentes, a Venezuelan human rights advocate and visiting scholar at the Center of Democracy Development and the Rule of Law, said it was “shocking” to hear Pinzón point out that the Western hemisphere has not integrated into an economic unit that “progress[es] for all societies.”
“It would be such a great opportunity for growth if we thought of the Western hemisphere as a potential economic block and tried to increase productivity and growth in Latin America, because that’s what creates opportunity for people,” Fuentes said.
Fuentes added that the world is experiencing a “critical” moment amid a revolution in AI and technology, especially when considering its effect on smaller countries.
“Stanford shouldn’t only be leading this innovation in the technological sphere, but also thinking ‘how can we bridge this gap?’ so that countries are not left behind,” Fuentes said. “These technologies have the power to transform human life in a positive way.”