Catalina has managed the Regional Project on Security in Latin America and the Caribbean of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) since 2010, focusing on organized crime dynamics, its impacts on democratic governance and rule of law and the necessary institutional reforms to tackle the challenges posed by those problems.

She also directed FES Drug Policy Project 2015-2016, which argued for the need to reform traditional drug policies, particularly those intended to reduce supply, taking into account the poor results of the strategies implemented so far. She has also worked as an analyst on issues of private sector, conflict resolution and peace building in Colombia, at the Fundación Ideas para la Paz. She was part of the Permanent Mission of Colombia of the Organization of American States, Washington, DC (2005-2007).

She has edited several books published as a result of the work of FES Regional Project on Security in Latin America.