On March 14, 2018, Perry Center Director LTG (ret.) Frederick Rudesheim and Professors Celina Realuyo and Boris Saavedra participated in the international seminar “New Dynamics of Transnational Organized Crime: Challenges to Defense Governance and the Roles of the Armed Forces” at the Colombian War College (ESDEGUE) in Bogotá, Colombia.

The objective of the seminar was to promote an awareness of the challenges that transnational organized crime represents for security and defense governance, and provide participants with tools and ideas to develop ways to better address these threats.

Professor Celina Realuyo started the second day of the seminar with a presentation about organized crime and its impact on regional governance. Professor Realuyo explained the current United States strategy against organized crime, and shared measures and tools to be considered for the development of new strategies against these groups in the Americas. While she stressed the importance of greater resources and cooperation between the police and the armed forces, she also emphasized the pivotal role that civil society organizations have in the fight against organized crime.

Professor Boris Saavedra’s afternoon presentation focused on the challenges of governance in the cyber domain. Professor Saavedra provided an overview of the threats in cyberspace and, like Professor Realuyo, underscored the importance of greater cooperation among military, governmental and civil society actors in order to create and implement effective cybersecurity policies.

Perry Center graduates Dr. Iván Mauricio Gaitán Gómez (DPRM 2003, ICCT 2009) and Dr. Vicente Torrijos (ICCT 2008, PHSD 2010, SIS 2011, TCI 2012) participated in the final panel of the seminar, which discussed the scope of the threat posed by transnational organized crime groups and the challenges that States face in neutralizing them.

The seminar was attended by more than 300 people, including students from the Joint Staff and Advanced Military Studies courses, ESDEGUE master’s degree students, and researchers and academics from local universities and think tanks.