Security Yearbook in Latin America

Analysis of the main crime and security crime and security threats

05th of June 2025

Violence and high levels of organized crime in Latin America are not a contemporary problem. To understand the current context, we must broaden our perspective and delve into its deep historical and structural roots, which explain, at least in part, the various factors that have led to an environment conducive to the development of criminal organizations and high levels of violence.

In this first Latin American Security Yearbook, we aim to delve into the causes that make Latin America one of the most violent regions in the world, where organized crime has become the undisputed main actor in the transformation of violence, changing its relationships and becoming irrevocably linked to the criminal economy.

However, crime and violence in Latin America cannot be studied from a single perspective. A multidimensional approach is needed that takes into account political, social, and economic factors, as well as culture and religion. Violence and crime must be understood as interconnected phenomena that require comprehensive solutions that address not only the symptoms but also the underlying causes, as these are complex or perverse problems with no clear or linear solutions, and without forgetting that any intervention can have unforeseen consequences, even contrary to the intended aims.

However, what does seem clear is that the human and social cost of these phenomena in Latin America has been immense and that other regions must pay greater attention to the Latin American experience in order to prevent, or at least attempt to prevent, organized crime from becoming an even more destabilizing force.