Officials from more than 100 nations are gathering to debate anti-narcotics strategy in Buenos Aires this week, at the 40th International Drug Enforcement Conference (IDEC).
The conference, held behind closed doors in the capital from August 18 to 20, is being co-organised by President Javier Milei’s government and the DEA under the coordination of Argentina’s National Security Ministry.
The event aims to strengthen information-sharing, criminal intelligence and coordination against transnational organised crime, according to government officials. It is being hosted by Argentina for the first time.
“The scale of this challenge is enormous,” National Security Minister Alejandra Monteoliva, said on X. She is leading the conference alongside Terrance Cole, the DEA’s administrator, and Peter Lamelas, the US ambassador to Argentina.
“Organised crime is one of the great scourges of this century – it weakens governments and institutions, destroys human capital and deepens inequality,” Monteoliva said. “Without security there is no growth or development.”
Also on X, Ambassador Lamelas said the United States “works hand-in-hand with Argentina and other democratic countries against cartels, criminal networks and terrorists.”
“No country is immune and no country can fight this battle alone,” said the White House’s top representative in Buenos Aires. “Cartels and criminals move fast. That’s why we have to move even faster.”
Held under the banner “Justice through strength and unity,” the conference is taking place at a Buenos Aires hotel and brings together delegations from more than 100 countries and close to 700 participants, according to the statement from the Presidency.
Senior officials from US President Donald Trump’s administration are also attending, Argentine authorities said.
The government has kept the conference’s logistics unusually tightly held: there is no live broadcast, no public agenda of panels or speakers, and officials have not disclosed the specific venue.
Participants will hold “high-level strategic talks aimed at strengthening operational cooperation, sharing critical intelligence and coordinating law enforcement priorities” against drug-trafficking, international money-laundering and narco-terrorism, the US Embassy in Argentina said in a statement.
The joint hosting arrangement dates back to November 2025, when Patricia Bullrich, then serving as security minister, met a DEA delegation led by Cole – together with Michael Cabral, the DEA’s Southern Cone division chief, and Thomas Miles, the agency’s attaché in Argentina – to seal the agreement bringing the conference to Buenos Aires.
Launched by the DEA in 1983, IDEC serves as a multilateral forum and collaboration platform for the international police and judicial community’s fight against drug trafficking.
Sponsored by the United States, it holds annual meetings in different countries. This is the first time it has been held in Argentina.
— TIMES/AFP/NA
