8 June 2026
Washington, DC and São Paulo, Brasil
ICAIE and Universidade de São Paulo (USP) Announce New Partnerships on Fighting Crime Convergence across the Americas
Spotlighting Criminal Threats in the Amazon Basin’s Critical Ecosystems and Habitats through a Network Consortium of Academic Centers
Today, ICAIE and USP jointly launched a new research project to analyze the inter-linked criminal threats across the Amazon Basin. Illicit markets across South America are thriving – and continue to significantly expand – along with the torrential money laundering streams that are flooding economies and communities with illicit goods, contraband, and dirty monies across the hemisphere. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Amazon Basin of South America, one of the world’s most vital natural ecosystems and biodiversity habitats. The Amazon Basin is the world’s largest river basin, covering almost 7 million square miles, spanning parts of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Criminality within the Amazon Basin impacts not only the neighboring countries but those across the Americas, and beyond.
“Today, the Amazon Basin is also an inter-linked hub of convergence crimes that facilitates the laundering of tens of billions of dollars in illicit profits for drug cartels, transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), violent prison gangs, terrorist financiers, and other extra-regional threat networks”, said David M. Luna, ICAIE Executive Director.
The joint ICAIE-USP project will include an analysis of the convergence of Illegal exploitation or pillaging, mining, poaching or illegally-harvesting of gold and other critical minerals, wildlife, timber, fish, cultural heritage artifacts and linked with other criminalities including trafficking of narcotics, humans, weapons, illicit goods, and other contraband. The project will also look into the cross-cutting harms posed by corruption and money laundering.
Michael Miklaucic,Oswaldo Aranha Chair Professor, USP, emphasized that “the confluence of hemispheric illicit hot zones and cross-border touchpoints nurtures an ecosystem of criminality in which illicit profits derived from such crimes are laundered throughout the region, and globally.”
Rampant corruption and organized crime further destabilize efforts to effectively combat money laundering and illicit trade, while enabling the destruction of one of the most biodiverse regions on earth the “lungs of the planet”, as well as further corroding the rule of law, democratic institutions, and economic growth, hindering the effective implementation of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
ICAIE-USP also announced that a network consortium of interested research centers, think tanks, and universities across South America will work collaboratively to provide greater research, data and analytics in the Study of Transnational Organized Crime.
“A significant part of the problem we face in countering transnational organized crime is the siloed, compartmentalized, and bounded environment in which we work. National borders and national interests constrain coordination and collaboration between law enforcement, security, and intelligence services. Political and economic factors complicate official cooperation, ” said USP Professor Piquet Caneiro.
These new partnerships aim to develop policy recommendations and actions on how crime convergence impacts the national security of countries within the Amazon Basin, and beyond included a call for greater investments, capacities, and capabilities towards more investigations, enforcement, and regulatory, legal, and administrative oversight, compliance, and accountability.
The initiative will also examine the human dimensions of criminal governance, including the long-term impacts of organized violence on communities affected by illicit economies and armed actors. Drawing on comparative experiences, the project will explore evidence-based approaches to strengthening community resilience, rebuilding trust, and supporting sustainable reintegration in territories previously shaped by criminal or insurgent control.
On June 9 and 10, 2026, the Oswaldo Aranha Chair in Security and Defense of Universidade de São Paulo (USP) – in partnership with the School of Multi-Dimensional Security – co-hosted an International Seminar “Markets Under Siege: Transnational Organized Crime and the Rise of Illicit Economies in the Americas”.
#EverythingIsConnected
ABOUT ICAIE
ICAIE is a non-profit global security coalition based in Washington, DC that provides bespoke strategic intelligence, innovative solutions, and policy guidance through public-private partnerships on fighting transnational crime and illicit trade around the world.
ABOUT USP
The Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Latin America’s leading public university and one of the region’s foremost research institutions, advances research, professional training, and international cooperation on transnational organized crime, illicit markets, and emerging security threats through its School of Multidimensional Security (ESEM) and the Oswaldo Aranha Chair for Security and Defense.
Media Contact:
David M. Luna, DavidLuna@ICAIE.com
USP,
