NCJ Number
246503
Editor(s)
Cynthia J. Arnson,
Eric L. Olson,
Christine Zaino
Date Published
2014
Length
123 pages
Annotation
This book contains a series of papers examining the issues of security, violence, and transnational criminal organizations in Columbia and Mexico.
Abstract
This book, part of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars' Latin America Program, contains a series of papers examining the issues of security, violence, and transnational criminal organizations in Columbia and Mexico. The papers were commissioned in response to a series of questions resulting from recent events: what aspects of Columbia's strategy and tactics for fighting organized crime would be helpful to Mexico; what might Columbia's steps and missteps offer by way of example or counterexample; what is unique about each country's situation such that comparisons can be misleading; and what current security challenges in Columbia can be generalized about the threats posed by organized crime? Two of the chapters, Columbia's Lessons for Mexico and Mexico-Columbia: U.S. Assistance and the Fight against Organized Crime, analyze the usefulness of comparing Columbia and Mexico's experiences in combating organized crime. The third chapter, Drug Trafficking: A National Security Threat - Similarities between Columbia and Mexico, examines the effect that drug trafficking and criminal organizations have had on Columbia's economy, military, and citizens' lives and liberty. The fourth chapter, What Can Mexico Learn from Columbia to Combat Organized Crime, discusses how the problems of drug trafficking and violence affect the democratic processes and state institutions in these two countries.