Latin America is a beautiful place to visit and, in some cases, a great place to live. However much of the region is hindered by a notorious element of crime and violence which in effect has caused citizen insecurity and a lack of faith in the rule of law. Furthermore, this historic problem has induced social capital loss, human rights violations, deterred international business, as well as confidence in state actors, and general public support for iron fist rule in some cases. The most direct causes to these problems have to be the weak or under-resourced institutional factors and bureaucracies in charge of preventing and regulating such crimes and uneven socioeconomic factors like unemployment, general poverty, and lack of opportunity. In other words there is a failure to prevent the problem at the source and then a failure to deal with it once it has passed the point of prevention.
The prevalent socioeconomic problems which are at the root of a lot of the crime in Latin America are basic but effective enough. In places where economic growth is low and unemployment is high people resort to crime out of frustration and necessity. The lack of opportunity for legitimate financial resources in turn causes an outlet for illegitimate financial resources. Terrorist groups like FARC in Colombia are able to gain tremendous support from their young, impoverished population. In fact FARC’s core ideology is anti-elitist and they claim to represent the views of the rural poor pointing to the fact that socioeconomic inequality is indeed fueling a lot of the conflict[1]. Because of the inequalities in Colombia FARC is one of the oldest and most powerful criminal subversive elements in the western hemisphere. However, as economic opportunity grows in Colombia, as it has over the last two decades, the terrorist group’s support has decreased which I believe to be a direct correlation between crime and lack of opportunity.
On the other end of the problem there is an issue of lack of prevention on the part of the state. Government institutions are corroded by corruption and weak bureaucracies. People like Jader Barbalho, a wealthy politician in Brazil, swindled millions of dollars from the State through various fake projects and appropriations taking away not only money which can be used to address the issues of inequality but also the prevention of crime caused by it as well[2]. By doing this Barbalho also takes away from the integrity of the government and further emboldens organized crime to continue and flourish. Infiltration like this is not isolated but omnipresent in Latin America and is perhaps most apparent in some of the Central American region. “Transnational organized crime has penetrated the state at the national and local level, infiltrating political parties, the National Police, as well as the attorney general’s office,” according to the former vice-minister of foreign relations to Guatemala Peralta[3]. Corruption is only part of the equation though. The police force and the various agencies which are charged with keeping the peace and protecting citizens has failed in many places. In Sao Paulo, the market for privately owned helicopters is the largest out of any place in the entire world. This is mainly because people want to stay out of streets and above the crime. Others have resorted to body-guards, motorcades, and bullet-proof vehicles. There is a legitimate fear of crimes, especially kidnapping, and a complete lack of faith in the ability of the police forces to prevent these crimes or returned loved ones if they are kidnapped. In light of the prevalence of insecurity many have tried to address the problems of ineffective and undersupplied police agencies but few have made any real strides. Some, like the former president of El Salvador’s Security Council Oscar Bonilla, believe that in order to repair inadequate forces the entire system must be addressed as a whole. “A solution requires an integrated effort that engages civilian institutions, the penal system, and the police[4].”
The crime and violence which has been a characteristic of Latin America is no different from crime and violence that happens in the United States. The only difference is crime has been allowed to spiral completely out of control creating a deep sense of insecurity among the citizens and as a result people are unsure of how to cope or solve this conflict. Crime is derived from lack of opportunity, frustration, and the socioeconomic hardships. You can see examples of this in many American inner cities where gangs are a way of life for many people looking for a means of survival and a place in society that has left them none. This crime and violence is only made worse by incompetent police forces and corruption. The only way to diminish crime and violence in Latin America and in any part of the world is to eliminate the need for it by providing more economic opportunity, uprooting corruption, and devoting substantial resources to every sector of the judicial and anti-crime sectors and agencies. This, of course, is easier said than done but I believe countries in Latin America like Brazil and Colombia which have seen economic growth and will continue to see this growth over the years to come can remain optimistic as this is the key to eliminating that need for crime and violence.
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