Bolivia launches 'Secure Borders' plan linking security with investment

President Rodrigo Paz launched the "Secure Borders" plan in Guayaramerín, Beni, linking the fight against organized crime with a broader strategy to attract investment and transform the northern Amazon into an integration corridor between Brazil and Peru. The plan's activation follows an escalation of violence attributed to Brazilian criminal organizations.

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Who wants to invest in a city where there is no security? Who wants to come tourism if there is a risk of insecurity conflict tomorrow?

"Who wants to invest in a city where there is no security? Who wants to come tourism if there is a risk of insecurity conflict tomorrow?" the president questioned during the event, attended by Bolivian and Brazilian authorities, as well as the governors of Beni and Pando. The plan's implementation comes after a surge in violence in areas near Brazil, including an incident in San Matías, Santa Cruz, where five people died in late July, which authorities link to drug trafficking route disputes between the First Capital Command (PCC) and Comando Vermelho.

Paz emphasized that security is the first step in a strategy that must be complemented by infrastructure, energy, and trade. "The first instance is security for our society," he stated, adding that roads are only meaningful if they generate business and opportunities to retain the population in their regions. The second component is energy, with $204.2 million approved to improve electricity supply in Beni and Pando, reducing their diesel dependency and benefiting over 209,000 inhabitants.

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The first instance is security for our society.

The president also highlighted the plan to make the northern Amazon a connection point between the economies of Brazil and Peru, a possibility he discussed with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. This initiative aims to leverage access to Peruvian ports to develop a corridor through Beni and Pando. Paz added a fourth element: legal security, stating that new laws in investments, hydrocarbons, mining, and green economy must create conditions for national and foreign capital to establish themselves in the regions.

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Security social between the two countries so that there is no crime, but also economic security so that there is investment.