HomeNewsBriefIs the Northern Triangle's 'Historic' Security Pact Short-Sighted?
BRIEF

Is the Northern Triangle's 'Historic' Security Pact Short-Sighted?

EL SALVADOR / 24 AUG 2016 BY MIMI YAGOUB EN

Presidents of Central America's Northern Triangle have come to an agreement to create a "common front" against organized crime, but the emphasis on gang activity may leave a lot to be desired.

On August 23, Salvadoran President Salvador Sánchez Cerén, Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández and Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales signed the "Regional Plan Against Transnational Organized Crime" during a meeting at El Salvador's presidential palace.

"We have joined forces as a region, as countries, to fight transnational crime," said Salvadoran President Sánchez Cerén. 

SEE ALSO:  Coverage of Security Policy

The planned joint security operations include setting up a binational force along the Honduras-El Salvador border in the coming weeks. The plan is aimed at hindering the passage of gang members between the two countries, as well as the flow of contraband and human trafficking, reported El Diario de Hoy.

Honduras President Hernández said that this form of cooperation with El Salvador would "allow us to be one step ahead of criminal groups … their operations have ceased to be local, today they are transnational."

The proposed measures also include intelligence sharing between the nations, coordinated operations and facilitating the deportation of wanted persons. Furthermore, the three governments will create a "High-Security Group" consisting of police and military officials and prosecutors, who will be tightly screened in order to avoid the infiltration of criminal groups.

The Honduran president emphasized that the region's main security problem is the network of "mara" gangs, such as the Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) and Barrio 18, and traffickers of drugs, people and arms.

The Northern Triangle pact comes only weeks after the attorneys general of the three countries came to a collaboration deal focusing on fighting gangs in the region. These joint efforts are part of the Northern Triangle's Alliance for Prosperity, for which US Congress approved funds of up to $750 million in December 2015.

Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández at the press conference in El Salvador

InSight Crime Analysis

These growing signs of international cooperation between Northern Triangle nations are promising developments. However, the joint pact appears to be short-sighted in its focus on fighting gangs, while each nation's struggle to implement a well-rounded domestic security policy raises serious doubts about their ability to do so in unison.

This recent agreement appears to hone in on the maras' possible leap into transnational organized crime -- a topic that remains the subject of vigorous debate. While Mara members take refuge in neighboring nations, and there have been indications that branches of the MS13 gang may be coordinating criminal activities across countries, it remains unclear how closely they cooperate across borders and whether these gangs can be considered genuine transnational actors.

SEE ALSOMS13 News and Profile

In addition, there is not much mention of the key economies funding these gangs and other powerful organized crime groups operating in the Northern Triangle, especially those involved in the international drug trade. Nor do the pacts appear to tackle money laundering and high-level corruption, which continue to pose important barriers to justice, security and development in the region. 

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BARRIO 18 / 28 JUN 2023

The Honduran government's anti-gang crackdown risks oversimplifying the causes behind the country's violence.

ELITES AND CRIME / 1 DEC 2021

As day broke in Guatemala City on August 31, 2016, a judge named Carlos Ruano anxiously awaited a meeting with one of Guatemala’s most powerful…

ELITES AND CRIME / 21 AUG 2023

Bernardo Arévalo won Guatemala's presidential election. But he will face more challenges from political elites before taking up the post.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…