¡Narcoterroristas! Derecho internacional antiterrorista y crimen organizado en Colombia, El Salvador y MéxicoNarcoterrorists! International counterterrorist law and organized crime in Colombia, El Salvador and Mexico

Abstract This article looks comparatively at the effects of international counterterrorist law on state security policies against organized crime in Colombia, El Salvador and México, the three countries most affected by criminal violence in Latin America. It is shown that the first UN Security Council resolutions in response to the 9/11 attacks had highly diverging effects in the three cases. While Mexico has not incorporated counterterrorism into its internal security policies, early on Colombia and El Salvador sought to insert their fights against organized crime in the global counterterrorist crusade, although later their paths diverged widely. The article explains why Mexico did not activate counterterrorism internally and argues that the constitutional tribunals in Colombia and El Salvador had a key role in their paths’ divergence. To conclude, some factors are posited that make a domestic order more receptive to international counterterrorism.