People’s insecurity in Latin America due to crime being in power and bad governance

(Interamerican Institute for Democracy) The twenty-first century in Latin America is being defined by the growing public insecurity due to narcotics’ trafficking, the creation of narco-States, forcible migrations, humanitarian and economic crises, increased poverty, and the inequality of people produced by the increased number of dictatorships in the region and the democratic governments’ weakness to meet their obligation to preserve the rule and the eminence of the law. The growing crisis of insecurity in the region is blamed on organized crime’s access to political power and bad governance in democracy.

The Organization of American States defines public insecurity as “the existence of crime and violence protected by the State.” The United Nations’ Development Program declares that “public security can be defined as the universal protection against violent or predatory crime…the protection of certain options or opportunities of all persons -their life, integrity, estate- against a specific risk (crime) that alters, suddenly and painfully their day-to-day life.”

Public security is a responsibility of the State, it is a political and not a law enforcement responsibility. The decision to secure it, and the duty to grant and sustain it, is a responsibility of the governments and elected politicians who have the obligation to organize, sustain, and protect police forces charged with the duty of enforcing the law. It is a function of the State that implies the exercising of authority that includes the use of force or violence whose monopoly -for the application of the law- rests in the State. It is the obligation of the State to provide public security through the government and within an institutional framework based upon “the respect for human rights and basic individual freedoms,” “the rule of law,” “the separation and independence of the branches of government,” that are the essential components of democracy.

Under dictatorial regimes of 21st Century Socialism who are the expansion of Cuba’s dictatorship into Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua, there is no public security and their outstanding feature is “the legal insecurity” and the “situation of defenselessness” of individuals facing the “impunity of the criminals.” In these dictatorships, power is wielded through “State-terrorism” that is no more than “the commission of crime from and by the government to instill fear into the population and achieve behaviors of subjection.” In a dictatorship crime wields power and the government controls criminal activities that include the condition they have turned their countries into, namely narco-States.

Beyond the fact that 21st Century Socialism, or Castrochavism’s dictatorships are producers of misery, have increased poverty and inequality, have produced humanitarian crises in Cuba and Venezuela, and economic, political, and social crises in Bolivia and Nicaragua, with the forcible exodus of millions of people fleeing these regimes, they have caused a migratory crises throughout the region. Millions have escaped and flee from the dictatorial disgrace with detrimental effects on their societies, economy, health and education systems and the security of all nations throughout the Americas.

Twenty-First Century Socialism has also expanded through electoral processes in which they support candidates, weaken the democratic system, assassinate the reputation of democratic leaders, annul their viability and flood elections with money and commit fraud. This is how, even though they were not able to totally wreck democracy to impose dictatorships, it controls the governments of Brazil with Lula, Mexico with Lopez Obrador, Argentina with Kirchner and Fernandez, Chile with Boric, Colombia with Petro, Peru with Castillo and others wherefrom it supports and sustains dictatorships, protect narcotics’ trafficking with the discourse “to legalize drugs,” it supports impunity and more.

Due to the decisions made by their governments to protect transnational organized crime or Castrochavism and the resulting public insecurity, the price that citizens from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Peru have to pay is way too high. Besides the migratory pressure generated by dictatorships, these promote the growth of narcotics’ trafficking increased by the birthing of narco-States that are no more than the very same dictatorships who, starting with narcotics’ trafficking commit all sorts of crime and expand with a vast spectrum of crimes that ultimately destroy the peoples’ security.

In those countries with democratic governments there are significant results that show that political responsibility in law enforcement compliance works. Uruguay, El Salvador, Costa Rica, although different scenarios, demonstrate the existence of the rule of law. The problem with other democratic governments resides in being subjected to the false narrative of protection from crime that Castrochavism uses and then to act on the basis of that incorrect fake narrative, or something “politically correct”, that ultimately results in bad governance due to the unfulfillment of the obligation to provide public security.

*Attorney & Political Scientist. Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.

Translation from Spanish by Edgar L. Terrazas