Author(s)

Romain Le-Cour-Grandmaison

Posted on 23 Dec 2025

From 25 to 27 November, the Caribbean’s third Regional Network Meeting for Crime Analysts, organized by the Board of Chiefs of Police of the Dutch Caribbean, brought together nearly 50 analysts, police chiefs and intelligence officers from across the region in Santo Domingo. The meeting aimed to share insights into criminal networks, financial crimes, drug flows and artificial intelligence. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) participated in its capacity as a civil society organization, contributing to discussions on strengthening collaboration and sharing expertise across the wider Caribbean Basin.

Over the course of three days, participants presented their latest analyses, providing a comprehensive overview of the evolving criminal landscape. Topics covered included firearms incidents, homicide trends, drug flows, violence involving young people, coastal vulnerabilities, inter-island group dynamics, cyber-enabled crime and the rising influence of digital platforms on illicit activities.

The meeting underscored the Caribbean’s growing centrality in the global criminal economy. Cocaine trafficking continues to put significant pressure on institutions with limited capacity to respond, while high-quality cannabis originating from the United States and Canada has fuelled barter exchanges (cannabis for cocaine, and often for weapons) across several islands. In places such as the island of Sint Maarten and Saint Martin, where a gram of cocaine sells for less than US$20, these exchanges have become firmly embedded in local illicit economies.

Changes in air and maritime routes further illustrate the adaptability of trafficking networks. For example, Suriname’s airport has become a key point of origin for couriers bound for Europe, with routes increasingly passing through Port of Spain, Brazil and French territories. Enhanced controls in Amsterdam have prompted diversification, challenging regional law enforcement agencies to adapt to these rapidly shifting patterns.

A recurring finding was that multiple trafficking routes are operating simultaneously. No single route has replaced another; they all remain active, adaptive and interconnected. However, the primary final destination of cocaine flows has shifted. Rather than the United States – long the dominant market – Europe has become the end point of the supply chain transiting through the Caribbean. Europe’s position as the world’s epicentre of cocaine consumption has found a perfect geographic platform for trafficking in the Caribbean, a dynamic further fuelled by corruption, impunity and limited judicial follow-through, which continue to undermine security efforts. In addition, parallel illicit markets – such as firearms trafficking, illegal gold mining and trafficking, or the rising influence of oil-related criminal actors in Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago – further complicate an already complex regional criminal landscape.

Within this expanding threat landscape, firearms trafficking was identified as one of the region’s most urgent concerns. Between 2018 and 2022, 7 399 firearms recovered from crime scenes were successfully traced. Although this figure represents only a fraction of the weapons circulating in the region, 73 per cent of those traced were sourced from the United States. The flow of illicit firearms, like cocaine, moves through every possible route and vector, exploiting institutional vulnerabilities across the region. These include limited human and technical capacity within customs and intelligence services, as well as the prevalence of private ports and docks where public authorities struggle to assert access and effective oversight. The geography of the Caribbean further enables micro-trafficking from island to island, beyond the reach of surveillance and interdiction. Several territories, including Saint Martin and the British Virgin Islands, have recorded sharp increases in firearms-related incidents. The circulation of shared weapons among gangs complicates tracing and ballistic forensics, and drives cycles of retaliatory violence.

Finally, it is increasingly clear that firearms and cocaine trafficking can no longer be addressed in isolation. Combating both phenomena must be pursued jointly, forming the basis for dialogue and cooperation between Caribbean authorities and external partners, notably the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and governments across Central and South America, including Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname.

However, participants highlighted persistent structural vulnerabilities in crime-analysis ecosystems. While many jurisdictions possess national tools for data collection and several regional bodies generate timely intelligence, such as the Caribbean Community Implementation Agency for Crime and Security, these systems remain largely siloed. There were repeated calls for integrated platforms, shared databases and enhanced digital forensic capacity. The absence of harmonized cybersecurity legislation, uneven investigative resources, outdated infrastructure and jurisdictional complexities continue to impede coordinated responses. For small island territories, these challenges are exacerbated by tight-knit communities where witness intimidation, loyalty and fear hinder cooperation with the justice system.

Despite these pressures, the meeting revealed a growing readiness among practitioners to pursue more integrated, cross-border responses. Participants highlighted the need to strengthen the links between law enforcement and judicial institutions to ensure that arrests lead to successful prosecutions. They also emphasized the importance of engaging with civil society organizations that can produce comparative, transnational analysis and connect Caribbean developments to those in Central America, Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname, Guyana, Brazil and beyond.

The discussions in Santo Domingo made it clear that the Caribbean is at a decisive juncture. The region is increasingly exposed to global illicit flows, criminal actors are becoming more sophisticated and institutional constraints – from cyber capacity to data management and witness protection – remain substantial. But there is also a growing willingness to confront these challenges collectively, and to invest in the analytical and operational cooperation needed to strengthen regional resilience.

The GI-TOC will continue to work alongside governments, law enforcement agencies, regional institutions and local partners to support these efforts and contribute to more informed, coordinated and effective responses to transnational organized crime in the Caribbean Basin.