On July 1, 2025, Buenos Aires hosted the XNUMXth Triangles-Southern Triangle Meeting., a forum for dialogue that brought together security forces, customs authorities, experts, and academics from the region to address the growing challenges posed by organized crime and illicit trade.
In addition to issues related to regional security and cooperation, the meeting also addressed the complex international scene, marked by armed conflicts, institutional crises and a multilateralism in decline.
In that framework, Dr. Francisco Rojas, Director of the United Nations University for Peace, offered a critical analysis of the growing fragility of the international system and underlined the urgent need to revitalize multilateral cooperation, with a special emphasis on the role that Latin America should assume
"Global multilateralism is experiencing a major weakness, evidenced by the blockage of the UN Security Council, where permanent members with veto power, such as Russia and the United States, prevent essential consensus for stabilizing the international system.Rojas explained.
The academic warned that this global paralysis is also reflected in the region, where the lack of agreements and political fragmentation make it difficult to build a common voice.
"While other regional blocs such as the European Union, Asia and Africa respond in a coordinated manner, Latin America remains atomized, with dispersed policies that do not allow for effective consensus.s,” he said.
This regional divide, he said, is also evident in organizations like the OAS, where external pressures generate intense debates about its role and future, especially regarding compliance with the Democratic Charter of the Americas.
Among the major global challenges highlighted by Mr. Rojas are the rise of armed conflicts—with an emphasis on the nuclear threat—climate change, and rapid technological advancement, which in turn strengthens the capabilities of organized crime.
"In Latin America, illicit trade opens the doors to organized crime, which is linked to more than 60% of homicides in the region, mainly related to drug trafficking, where this region remains the the world's leading producer of cocaine"He said.
Finally, the Director of the University for Peace—a global institution based in Costa Rica, created by the United Nations to promote education and research for peace—insisted on the urgency of restoring peace to the center of the global agenda, an objective that, he warned, faces resistance among key international actors, who have yet to demonstrate a real willingness to prioritize it.
"The voices calling for peace have not reached the necessary volume.", lament.
However, he stressed that Argentina, by promoting spaces such as the V Triangles-Southern Triangle Meeting - organized by the Department against Transnational Organized Crime (DDOT) of the OAS - offers a concrete opportunity to articulate regional responses., strengthen dialogue between the public and private sectors, and advance the collective construction of a peace and security agenda for Latin America and the world.
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