US allocates 6.5 million dollars to Uruguay to combat drug trafficking
Washington signed an agreement with Montevideo worth 6.5 million dollars to strengthen the fight against drug trafficking and transnational organised crime.
Bilateral agreement against organised crime: Uruguay receives US funds
The United States and Uruguay signed an agreement whereby Washington will contribute 6.5 million dollars to strengthen the country's capacities in the fight against drug trafficking and transnational organised crime, according to ambito.com.
Foreign Minister Mario Lubetkin explained that the resources will have a technical purpose: to support the actions already being developed by Uruguay in security matters. "The agreement with the United States, for 6.5 million dollars, helps us to provide technical support for our action in fighting organised crime, transnational organised crime," he stated.
Lubetkin placed the understanding within a broader strategy. He noted that security "is an objective problem" and warned that "there is no single formula" to resolve it, but rather "three or four actions that go hand in hand". In that line, he indicated that Uruguay also joined an agreement promoted by Chile aimed at connecting actions and experiences in the field of regional integration, and asked to "not view each event in isolation".
The announcement comes in a context in which the security agenda is gaining greater regional weight. During its Pro Tempore Presidency of Mercosur, Uruguay defined the strengthening of that agenda as one of the semester's priorities. At the same time, the governments of Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia recently reaffirmed their intention to combat transnational organised crime through intelligence sharing, police and institutional cooperation, and border coordination.
The financial support arrives moreover at a moment when various indicators show changes in the situation of organised crime in the country. The Global Organised Crime Index of 2025 placed Uruguay with a crime score of 3.57, the lowest in South America, although the figure has been increasing since 2021. Between 2023 and 2025, that score grew by 0.35 points, with an expansion of weapons trafficking and a greater presence of foreign criminal actors, in addition to pressures linked to cocaine trafficking, synthetic drugs and other illegal activities.
The same index identified a recent deterioration in some components of the country's resilience, including transparency, government accountability and prevention, although Uruguay maintains a comparatively high capacity for response against organised crime in the region.
The diagnosis is relevant given the country's growing role within transnational drug trafficking routes and the regional presence of larger-scale criminal organisations. Lubetkin acknowledged the need to deepen institutional response: "In the face of the growing challenge we must raise our capacity for training and knowledge on our side," he said, although he highlighted that Uruguay has "a trained security system".
The contribution of 6.5 million dollars is thus integrated into a strategy that combines the reinforcement of national capacities with greater cooperation both bilateral and regional in the face of drug trafficking and transnational organised crime.
Source: Google News UY — Crime