In the largest countries in the region, private guards outnumber police officers four to one and have ten times more weapons than in Europe.
High rates of violence in Latin America and the deficient presence of state authority in parts of the territory have led to the proliferation of private security companies throughout the region. There are now more than 16,000 companies in issue industry that involves more than 2.4 million people. The sector faces significant challenges, such as imprecise legality in many cases, a deficit of experience, forms incompatible with civil and human rights in certain places and the risk of escalation of arsenals.
article / Martín Biera Muriel
The proliferation of private security companies in Latin America is linked to crime and violence statistics in the region. It is estimated that 19 out of every 20 violent crimes that occur in the world take place in Latin America, where 17 of the 20 most violent cities in the world and 4 of the 5 most violent countries are located.
The status has led to an "explosive growth" in the privatization of security in Latin America, as described in the report "Security for Sale" by the Inter-American Dialogue. The increase in the issue of Private Defense and Security Companies (PMSCs) has been seen not only in countries with acute conflicts, such as Colombia, where in the last ten years there has been a 126% increase, but also in countries with greater social peace and institutionalism, such as Chile, which in five years has seen a 50% increase. The total number of companies dedicated to this function in Latin America reached 16,174 in 2017, as specified at the time by the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF).
The PMSC sector
The term PMSCs includes both the security companies used in developed countries, normally dedicated to guarding establishments or individuals, as well as defense companies that can replace functions usually reserved to the State. The latter developed after the end of the Cold War and have become an important player in international relations, participating in leave and even high intensity conflicts.
These defense companies operate in a framework of complicated legality, whose regulation attempted to be standardized in 2008 with the Montreaux Document, a compilation of legal obligations and best practices aimed at guaranteeing the sovereignty of States and protecting human rights. Although the text applies more directly to situations of armed conflict, it also provides a regulatory framework for security companies in general, given the tenuous borderline between one subject of companies and others, especially in Latin America, where the authority of the State often does not reach the entire national territory, some civil conflicts are particularly virulent and some use the Armed Forces in the fight against criminal violence and the maintenance of public order.
More guards than policemen
The more than 16,000 PMSCs in Latin America employ around 2.4 million people. While security guards issue police worldwide, in many Latin American countries there is a particular imbalance between the issue of police officers and private agents: in Colombia, Brazil and Mexico the ratio is one police officer to four PMSC members; in extremely violent countries such as Honduras and Guatemala the ratio is even one to seven. It is also the case that many members of the police resort to moonlighting, working as police officers during the day and becoming security agents at night in a neighborhood, business or building.
The largest companies are those dedicated to surveillance and escorting VIP clients. The largest are of European and U.S. origin and specialize in one part of the sector, especially in the protection of private property. Most of them operate in cities or in natural resource extraction centers isolated from urban areas. In relation to the frequent criticisms that these companies receive for allegedly supplanting the functions of the legally constituted authority, it is necessary to point out that the legal framework in which the large companies operate is strict and supervised.
degree program of armament
It can be argued that the skill among operators has generated a kind of degree program in which each business wants to offer more efficient services. In turn, as there is a greater issue of agents and more modern weapons, criminals also tend to increase their firepower and capabilities to meet their objectives, which consequently leads companies to also increase the caliber of their weaponry, in a spiral that is difficult to control. Statistics show that Latin America has the highest ratio of firearms per security guard in the world outside those areas affected by conflict. This ratio is ten times higher than the ratio of small arms in Europe.
This has led to criticism of certain PMSCs in Latin America for having contributed, directly or indirectly, to illegal arms trafficking and the growth of armed gangs, generating a vicious circle. For example, in 2015 ninety people were arrested in San Francisco (some of them linked to PMSCs) for belonging to an arms trafficking network linked to the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13). There have also been cases of theft and misplacement of weapons imported from the region, both by individual private security contractors and by the military itself; these weapons then enter the black market. Thus, more than 40% of illegal arms in El Salvador are linked to some 460 private security companies, despite the obligation to have an official registry for their identification.
Challenges
Reducing the high levels of insecurity is one of the main challenges facing many Latin American countries. The reasons for the persistent violence in their societies are manifold; among them are political corruption and economic inequality. The wealthier classes may consider themselves targets of attempted robbery or kidnapping, but the lower classes also suffer from high crime rates, in their case without the possibility of resorting to private security.
Private security in Latin America faces two major challenges. One is the illegality of part of the sector: illegal companies are growing faster than in the legal sector; in Brazil, for example, the issue of informally employed guards exceeds the number of formal ones. The other is the lack of training or experience of a certain Issue of private guards. Addressing the need for greater legal regulation, and for regulation that is more adjusted to national specificities, and the desirability of greater training will help to reduce the gray zone in which in many cases they operate and the violations of human rights.
