UN Announces Strategy Against Drugs and Crime for Latin America

The executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ghada Waly, presented today the route that will support the organization's commitment to strengthen prevention and confrontation of organized crime, drugs, and corruption in Latin America.

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The UNODC representative also announced that the regional headquarters of the organization will be in Colombia, from where it will supervise and coordinate operations against drug trafficking and crimes in this country, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Uruguay.

In a high-level meeting with the region's foreign ministries organized in this capital, Waly stressed that Latin America and the Caribbean are pioneers in South-South cooperation. This is also a key region in the field of international politics to address four action areas.

In this regard, she addressed the world drug problem, combatting transnational organized crime, fighting corruption and economic crimes, and strengthening criminal justice and crime prevention.

"We depend on the active engagement of the region and donors to promote justice and build accountable institutions that can help restore trust, increase opportunity and deliver on the promise of more inclusive progress, leaving no one behind," she stressed.

The meeting took place at the San Carlos Palace, headquarters of the Foreign Ministry, and was attended by official delegates from the governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras , Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay.

The President of the Republic, Iván Duque, and Vice President and Foreign Minister, Martha Lucía Ramírez, attended on behalf of Colombia. Duque highlighted the work of UNODC in recent years in the country, reflected in the expansion of its powers to face regional challenges that threaten peace and legality.

"We celebrate this regional strategy as a paradigm of coordination and teamwork. We celebrate that the UNODC office is elevated to a regional office in Colombia, which validates the effort in our country that wants to be an increasingly active member," he said.

Pierre Lapaque, who assumes the position of regional director of UNODC for the Andean Region and the Southern Cone, highlighted the Strategic Vision's impact and applauded the will of the countries to build stronger institutions that work for peace, inclusion, and justice.