Regional Cooperation against Transnational Organized Crime: Challenges and Opportunities in the Western Hemisphere

Jaime Cubides-Cardenas^1*Christian Esteban Hernández-Alvarado¹Jonnathan Jimenez-Reina²Andrés Felipe Roncancio-Bedoya³

• ¹Corporación Universitaria de Asturias, Bogotá, Colombia
• ²Escuela Superior de Guerra, Bogotá, Colombia
• ³Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

Transnational Organized Crime represents a critical threat to the political, economic, and social stability of the Western Hemisphere. This article analyses the dynamics of the criminal organizations that constitute this phenomenon, including their illicit activities such as drug, human, and arms trafficking, as well as their relationship with migratory flows and advanced technologies. Using a qualitative methodology based on the multidimensional security model, it evaluates the consequences of Transnational Organized Crime and the challenges for States, highlighting the need for State policies on security and defense that transcend political interests. The main conclusion is the comprehensive articulation of regional cooperation, mechanisms for collective intelligence, and legal strengthening to confront this criminal phenomenon effectively. It emphasizes the importance of migration control as a key strategy and proposes concrete recommendations to strengthen regional cooperation, ensure institutional stability, and mitigate the impacts of Transnational organized crime.