Organized crime, border conflicts, money laundering and cyberspace: current challenges in the region

Abstract

In this interview, Dr. Katalina Barreiro argues that organized crime and its related crimes have been factors that have exacerbated violence and criminality. This phenomenon is manifested in the appropriation of routes, services and territories by irregular groups, which, in turn, infiltrate the structures of legal economies through money laundering. Our interviewee highlights the lack of standardized policies on a global scale to punish this crime, as well as the existence of nations in which this type of crime is not included in their legislative frameworks. She raises other elements for discussion, such as the absence of the role of Latin American integration mechanisms in security matters, border cooperation between Colombia and Ecuador, the challenges of President Noboa in the face of transnational crime, the vulnerabilities of computer systems to cyber-attacks and the position of Ecuadorian foreign policy in the face of the geopolitical conflicts between Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas.