Geocriminality as a Threat to the Security and Sovereignty of States

Abstract

The current situation of “permacrisis,” understood as a prolonged period of instability and insecurity, has increased the vulnerability of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Combined with institutional weakness, porous borders, and high levels of corruption, it has made crime the main challenge to the security and sovereignty of states, with a consequent impact on socioeconomic development. In Peru, transnational crime is linked to most of the identified national security threats, turning border regions into geostrategic spaces for criminal activity and highlighting the need to rethink national border-security policy, with clearly defined institutional responsibilities and a systemic, regionally cooperative approach. In this context, the adaptability of transnational crime, its efforts to maintain territorial control, and its links to global illicit markets have turned it into a geopolitical instrument known as geocriminality, used both by criminal organizations and by certain states seeking to undermine countries with opposing interests, thereby weakening their security, governance, and political stability.