Opinion: John Koufos Says Trump's 'Shield of the Americas' Gives Law Enforcement the Tools to Take Down Cartels
A former defense attorney argues that terrorist designations, asset freezes and shared intelligence beat treating cartels as local crime, and that Brazil is the missing piece. It is an argument column, not a news report.
In a Fox News column, John Koufos, a former criminal trial attorney who now consults on technology, healthcare and justice issues, argues the U.S.-led alliance against cartels is working in the right way.
The problem. Koufos writes that "cartels do not respect international borders. In fact, they weaponize them." He says groups such as MS-13 and Tren de Aragua operate like corporations with supply chains and money-laundering networks, and that investigators run into delays sharing evidence, securing extraditions and tracing money across countries.
The tool. He says the initiative recently designated eight criminal groups, including the Sinaloa cartel, the Jalisco New Generation cartel and Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations. In his telling that opens the way to freezing assets, penalties for anyone giving "material support," and pressure on financial institutions that launder money. "You cannot arrest your way out of a cartel problem," he writes. "You must disrupt the business itself."
The partners. He lists Argentina, El Salvador, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay and Chile as participants, and says real-time intelligence sharing and joint military coordination would let information gathered in Lima support a case in New York.
The holdout. Koufos says Brazil, which has abstained, is the critical missing piece. He points to the Primeiro Comando da Capital and the Comando Vermelho and says the re-election of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva "all but ensures an increase in organized criminal activity" there. "If more nations commit to this alliance," he concludes, "we will not just be managing the cartel problem; we will be systematically dismantling it."
The other side. The column does not weigh critics' concerns about military coordination or terrorism labels, or give evidence that the designations have reduced cartel activity so far.
Note for readers: this is one writer's view. Our earlier story on Brazil and the Shield of the Americas is on the site.