Fund departments and municipalities for the direct and specialized provision of services for adult trafficking victims and victims of forced labor. * Draft, approve, and fund a victim-centered and trauma-informed identification protocol for all police units and train officials on proactive identification and referral. * Proactively identify victims of forced labor and criminally investigate and prosecute labor traffickers. * Vigorously investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes and seek significant prison terms for convicted traffickers, including officials complicit in facilitating or perpetrating trafficking crimes. * Develop, fund, and implement a centralized data collection system on trafficking to reconcile duplicative data stored across different systems. * Adopt reforms to eliminate abusive practices and working conditions that may amount to trafficking in criadazgo (child domestic servitude). * Ensure victims are not inappropriately penalized solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. * Draft, approve, and fund a new national action plan for the elimination of trafficking and include efforts to address rising trends, such as human trafficking in webcam modeling and soccer industries. * Proactively vet NGOs partnering with law enforcement actors to ensure practices used during trafficking operations are victim-centered and trauma informed. * Revise the definition of human trafficking under Colombian law to align more closely with the 2000 UN TIP Protocol definition. * Expand training for border officials on the newly developed victim identification protocol for migrants and establish a referral mechanism to route trafficking cases for criminal prosecution.

The government maintained prosecution efforts for sex trafficking but did not make adequate efforts to prosecute labor trafficking. Article 188A of the penal code criminalized sex and labor trafficking and prescribed punishments of 13 to 23 years’ imprisonment plus fines between 800 and 1,500 times the monthly minimum salary. Penalties under article 188A were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes such as rape. Article 188A of the penal code is inconsistent with the definition of trafficking under international law, as the law did not include force, fraud, or coercion as an essential element of a trafficking crime. The law criminalized forced child recruitment and forced criminal activity by illegal armed groups under separate statutes; however, prosecutors did not consider or investigate these crimes as potential human trafficking, including in cases that appear to fit within the international law definition of trafficking. The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) investigated and prosecuted some sex trafficking crimes under other provisions of the penal code, including article 213 “induction into prostitution,” article 214 “coercion to engage in prostitution,” article 213A “exploitation of the prostitution of a minor,” and article 217A “solicitation of commercial sex with a child”; the penalties prescribed under these laws were similar to those prescribed under article 188A, with the exception of article 214, which prescribed penalties of nine to 13 years’ imprisonment and a fine. Similarly, the AGO investigated and prosecuted some cases of forced child criminal activity, using article 188D of the penal code, “use of minors in criminal acts”; the penalties prescribed under this provision were similar to those prescribed under article 188A.

According to public government reports, the sex crimes unit of the national police opened 109 trafficking cases under articles 214, 213A, and 217A of the penal code, compared with 210 in 2022 and 309 cases in 2021.
In 2023, law enforcement officials arrested 56 suspects under article 188A, compared with 26 suspects in 2022. The AGO investigated 51 possible cases of trafficking, including 45 cases for sex trafficking and six for labor trafficking under article 188A and four cases of “child sex tourism” under a separate provision of the penal code. Officials also investigated 230 cases of unspecified trafficking, including eight cases with aggravating factors such as age or psychological immaturity of the victim, three cases of servile marriage, and 625 cases for the use of children in criminality, but it was unclear if these constituted trafficking crimes as defined in international law. This compared with 53 possible cases of trafficking, including 41 for sex trafficking and 12 for forced labor investigated in 2022. In the same year, officials also investigated 258 cases of unspecified trafficking and one for servile marriage, but it was unclear if these cases constituted trafficking crimes as defined in international law. In 2023, the AGO prosecuted 56 individuals for sex trafficking using Article 188A and one individual for sex trafficking crimes using a different article of the penal code. This compared with the prosecution of one individual for sex trafficking using article 188A and 68 individuals for sex trafficking crimes using several different articles of the penal code in 2022. The AGO did not criminally prosecute any labor traffickers. Judicial authorities reported convicting six traffickers, five of whom were women. This compared with the conviction of four traffickers in 2022, eight in 2021, and 22 in 2020. Judicial authorities did not share data on the sentences given to convicted traffickers, and reports indicated five of the six convictions in 2023 reached a plea agreement; therefore, it is unclear whether traffickers received adequate penalties for their crimes. The Ministry of Labor (MOL) did not have a comprehensive referral mechanism for the criminal prosecution of labor traffickers. MOL officials reported referring cases believed to be trafficking for criminal investigation to the AGO; but the AGO did not report criminally prosecuting any of the cases referred. The MOL does not have the legal authority to pursue criminal investigations beyond its mandate to conduct labor inspections. Courts did not convict any labor traffickers and have convicted one labor trafficker in 2018, a conviction that was under appeal in 2023. According to a source, the AGO representative leading the forced labor case under appeal before the supreme court requested the decision be overturned on the grounds the crimes were labor violations and not human trafficking. Non-governmental sources raised concerns regarding authorities lack of attention to labor trafficking crimes and their serious impact on victims. The trafficker in this case compelled a young Indigenous woman from a marginalized community into domestic servitude, severely restricting her movement by keeping her in a locked room when left home alone, subjecting her to debt bondage, forcing her to work at odd hours and without rest, and never compensating her services. In 2023, the government’s efforts to investigate and prosecute cases of extraterritorial sexual exploitation and abuse led to the prosecution of 10 foreign nationals in the cities of Cartagena and Medellin, where this form of trafficking was prevalent.

Numerous provisions criminalizing trafficking crimes within the penal code led to an inconsistent law enforcement and prosecutorial response. An NGO noted judges and prosecutors lacked training on the proper codification of the crime in the penal code, which led to the misidentification of victims. Inadequate protection mechanisms for victims might affect their willingness to cooperate with law enforcement in cases against traffickers, which in turn can hinder prosecutors’ efforts to convict trafficking crimes. Civil society actors reported law enforcement officials lacked victim-centered, trauma-informed screening for trafficking indicators forcing victims to retell their story numerous times, leading to retraumatization.

Corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns. While the government investigated and arrested some complicit officials, authorities often opted for disciplinary measures in lieu of criminal prosecution; a response that was not commensurate with the severity of the crime and hindered efforts to combat trafficking. A report from the Inspector General indicated there were 51 cases of official complicity in the queue, of which four were active, 47 inactive, and only one had reached an administrative penalty. Most cases led to dismissal or transfers. It was unclear what the timeline was for the cases reported. In 2023, one active and two former police officers from the Medellin department were apprehended for their alleged involvement in a trafficking ring sending women from Medellin to several cities in France to later exploit them in sex trafficking. In November, authorities arrested a police officer in the city of Cartagena for allegedly working as an informant for a trafficking organization while covering a trafficking investigation. Both cases were in the prosecution stage at the end of the reporting period. In October, officials dropped child sex trafficking charges brought forth in 2022 against a police officer – assigned to the child protection unit in Cartagena – who was initially indicted and imprisoned for luring children into commercial sex. Beyond efforts to investigate officials, authorities did not report if they convicted other allegedly complicit officials.

Authorities collaborated with countries in the region, European countries, and international organizations on trafficking-related law enforcement operations. In 2023, officials investigated a trafficking case with Germany that led to the arrest of one trafficker. Authorities coordinated with the Governments of Spain and Greece to combat a transnational sex trafficking ring exploiting Colombian women in Europe. Officials reported conducting an operation with the Government of Peru that led to the arrest of three alleged traffickers and identification and repatriation of six Colombian victims. The AGO received 22 requests for assistance from the Governments of Chile, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela, and it requested judicial support from the Governments of Bolivia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, and Spain. Officials opened 47 criminal alerts because of cooperation with foreign governments. Authorities trained – in most cases with the support of international organizations – immigration and police officials on the identification and investigation of trafficking crimes. Law enforcement officials increased domestic collaboration with a civil society organization that survivors, media, and anti-trafficking experts noted did not use a victim-centered and trauma-informed approach.

The government maintained inconsistent protection efforts. Authorities increased the number of victims identified, but as in previous years, services remained limited, and efforts were insufficient to meet the needs of victims.  Most trafficking victims identified were adults and did not receive adequate long-term protection to aid in their recovery. Victim identification information included data from several government ministries not previously reported. Absence of a centralized data management system meant information was likely duplicative and included trafficking crimes not codified as such because of conflation of human trafficking with other crimes. Lack of proper identification and registration of cases by authorities could have impacted victims’ ability to request services available through the relevant ministries for trafficking victims.

In 2023, NGOs and government authorities identified a total of 1,273 potential trafficking victims, of whom 602 were exploited in sex trafficking, 40 in forced labor, 631 in unspecified forms of exploitation. The Ministry of Interior (MOI) centralizes victim identification and referral data through the Operating Center for the Fight Against Human Trafficking (COAT), however different government and NGO stakeholders maintained separate systems, leading to challenges in quantifying number of victims identified, referred, and assisted. The MOI identified 209 trafficking victims, of whom 175 were exploited in sex trafficking and 34 in forced labor. The 209 victims included 192 females and 34 males; 199 adults, 27 children; 24 girls, three boys; 22 individuals that identified as LGBTQI+; 13 individuals with disabilities; 70 foreign nationals (all Venezuelan); 42 domestic victims; and 97 Colombian nationals exploited in another country. The MOI also identified 55 victims for unspecified exploitation in 2023. This compared with the identification of 148 victims in 2022, of whom 122 were exploited in sex trafficking and 26 in forced labor.  The 148 victims included 123 adults, 25 children; 121 females and 27 males; 22 girls, three boys; 16 individuals who identified as LGBTQI+; 73 foreign nationals (72 Venezuelans and one Brazilian); and nine individuals with disabilities.  The government also identified 30 victims for unspecified exploitation in 2022. The AGO identified 58 victims of sex trafficking, six victims of forced labor, and 224 victims of unspecified exploitation under article 188A. It was unclear if cases of unspecified exploitation constituted trafficking as defined in international law. In addition, AGO officials identified 350 victims of sex trafficking under other articles of the penal code. An NGO indicated between January and September, the Ministry of Defense identified 266 trafficking cases. The Interior Secretary of Cartagena city reported identifying 86 child victims of sex trafficking and forced begging between January and March. Finally, an NGO reported identifying 19 women victims of sex trafficking.

Some law enforcement officials charged with the identification of victims reported relying on victim self-identification. Police officers did not make proactive efforts to identify victims, despite government reports that identification protocols exist. Law enforcement officers reported victims had sufficient trust in law enforcement to self-identify. Experts, international organizations, and civil society actors note that proactive victim identification is a necessary practice to effectively combat human trafficking, as victims rarely self-identify for fear of retribution and lack of trust in authorities. The MOL had a victim identification protocol for labor inspectors, but it was not widely used. Labor inspectors had a broad mandate, and the MOL did not have specialized labor inspectors to identify forced labor. According to officials, immigration authorities had a human rights protocol that included general instructions for the identification of trafficking victims. In 2023, immigration officials opened one investigation involving one individual for alleged sex trafficking crimes, and conducted 31 interviews with potential trafficking victims intending to leave the country, but none of them stayed as a result of the government’s intervention. Immigration officials had a protocol for the identification of trafficking victims in the migration context, but it was unclear if the protocol included a criminal referral to police for investigation. Officials did not report if victims were identified using this protocol. The MOI’s COAT was the centralized entity responsible for victim referral and had a publicly available victim referral mechanism. The Colombian Institute for Family Wellbeing (ICBF) had a specialized referral mechanism to guide trafficking victims to care. Civil society actors reported once authorities admitted child victims into the administrative process for the restoration of their rights, also known as PARD, the services were not always specialized to meet the needs of trafficking victims.

Civil society organizations indicated access to services remained a significant challenge, particularly for adult victims of sex trafficking and all victims of forced labor. In 2023, adults represented 85 percent of victims identified by the MOI and did not receive specialized services, including but not limited to, shelters where victims could stay without pressure, access to mental health providers with appropriate complex trauma training, or sufficient access to education and employment opportunities to meaningfully support victim reintegration. One NGO reported mental health services were deficient and contributed to a mental health crisis among victims. An existing presidential decree delegated victim care and protection to departments and municipalities, which were underfunded and understaffed. MOI authorities allocated funding from the central budget for technical support, transportation, administrative coordination, and capacity building but could not provide targeted funding for individual victim care. This institutional impediment left most victims unprotected. Stakeholders, including some government officials, indicated anti-trafficking municipal technical committees were not only underfunded but also had significant staffing challenges, as officials served short-term contracts and lacked institutional knowledge.

The MOI and the ICBF were responsible for victim protection; the former was responsible for protecting adult victims and the latter was responsible for protecting child victims. Emergency victim assistance could include medical and psychological examination, clothing, hygiene kits, issuance of travel and identity documents, and shelter for five days with a maximum extension of five additional days. In fewer cases, and only after administrative approval, authorities could provide medium-term assistance, which could include educational services, job skills training, assistance with job placement, economic support, and legal assistance, including witness protection. In 2023, authorities reported providing emergency assistance to 123 victims, including 19 victims of forced labor. Officials did not report how many victims received temporary shelter care. This compared with 100 victims who received emergency assistance in 2022, including 40 who received temporary shelter care. According to a press report, between January and May, the Bogotá district government referred 14 potential victims to emergency assistance services. The ICBF reportedly assisted 214 former child soldiers in 2022, compared with 158 in 2021. The Office of the Ombudsman reported providing legal and psychological assistance to trafficking victims in 37 cases. ICBF officials did not provide details on the kind of assistance provided to child victims of sex trafficking or forced labor. An NGO, mostly government-funded, provided shelter assistance for 116 child victims of sexual exploitation, including sex trafficking in 2023. Courts could grant restitution for victims at the request of the prosecutor or the victim. Restitution was granted in two cases in 2023, but authorities did not provide additional details.

Challenges in victim protection persisted. Law enforcement officials reported not knowing what to do when identifying an adult trafficking victim, as there were not any places available for victim assistance after identification. Lack of funding for civil society organizations possibly hindered the government’s ability to mitigate the crime; victims who did not receive adequate care were less likely to assist authorities in the case against traffickers. In 2023, MOI authorities reported establishing a partnership with an NGO for the provision of emergency victim care but did not indicate if the NGO had any experience working with human trafficking victims requiring specialized victim-centered and trauma-informed care. It was unclear what the contractual agreement entailed as there was no publicly available information on this organization, and some stakeholders had no knowledge of its prior work. According to authorities, this NGO provided emergency assistance, including transportation, psychological care, food, and a hygiene kit to 20 potential trafficking victims. The ICBF partially funded two shelters for child victims, one of which had a multi-disciplinary team trained to work with victims of sexual abuse, including sex trafficking; however, the number of shelters and ICBF-provided funding was likely insufficient to provide the comprehensive assistance victims needed. Local ICBF officials in Bogotá operated a shelter for child victims of commercial sexual exploitation that could provide care for trafficking victims, but authorities did not report how many victims received care in 2023. Authorities sometimes placed victims in hotels on a case-by-case basis. The government did not have specialized shelters for adults or anyone exploited in forced labor, despite needs of these populations. Forced child begging, particularly in tourist centers was prevalent, sometimes as a result of familial trafficking. According to the Cartagena mayor’s office, between January and March 2023, there were 10 operations against forced begging trafficking rings that led to the identification of 86 child victims of sex trafficking and forced begging. Officials reported referring all of them to the ICBF for services. In some cases, law enforcement officials referred forced child begging cases to the local family advocate (comisarias de familia) – the municipal level entity responsible for the protection of child victims of familial abuse. While local level and ICBF officials coordinated in some cases, overburdened units often faced challenges conducting adequate risk assessments and returned child victims to their parents or adult guardians. In some cases, this allowed the exploitative cycle to continue as children were back on the street the next day. The Ombudsman’s Office provided legal assistance to 124 victims.

Government officials penalized trafficking victims for crimes committed as a direct result of being trafficked. The government reported there were 40 trafficking victims arrested or penalized by the end of 2023, some for offenses such as petty theft, giving false testimony, or document fraud. In previous years, the lack of proactive victim identification and screening procedures may have exacerbated the penalization of victims. In coordination with Peru, and with support from a regional prosecutor working group, authorities repatriated six Colombian victims identified in Peru.

The government increased prevention efforts. The Interagency Committee for the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons, chaired by the MOI and comprising 16 government entities, held six high-level advisory meetings in 2023. Authorities continued implementing the 2020-2024 NAP, and all departments had territorial plans to combat trafficking. In 2023, officials appropriated 5.74 billion Colombian pesos ($1.48 million) and allocated 3.14 billion Colombian pesos ($811,000) for implementation of the law and the national fund to combat trafficking in persons. This compared with 7.6 billion Colombian pesos ($1.96 million) in 2022, of which an undetermined allocated amount funded implementation of the NAP, awareness campaigns, including one focused on extraterritorial commercial sexual exploitation and abuse in Cartagena, and operation of a phone app used to report trafficking crimes. Authorities continued using a phone app where victims could report trafficking crimes; however, the app was not anonymous, which may have hindered the reporting of crimes out of a fear of reprisal. In addition to the app, the government operated several telephone hotlines where anyone could report crimes, including a 24-hour anti-trafficking telephone hotline. Authorities received 158 calls to the hotline in 2023 and referred 134 to the COAT for further action. The government did not report how many investigations stemmed from the calls, how many victims it identified, or how many of the cases referred led to criminal prosecutions.

In 2023, and with the support of an international organization, the MOI launched a prevention campaign to raise awareness of trafficking crimes. As part of this expansive campaign, authorities published television ads and distributed awareness material in cities where trafficking was prevalent. The government made efforts to reduce the participation of foreign nationals in extraterritorial sexual exploitation and abuse in major tourist cities. A civil society organization reported increased engagement with MOI officials and a surge in national efforts to reach territories and municipalities where trafficking is prevalent. In 2023, the MOL – with the support of international organizations – trained officials from seven territorial directorates on the identification of forced labor and the relevant competencies of the labor ministry in combating trafficking crimes.

In 2023, for the first time, senior-level officials acknowledged forcible recruitment or use of children by illegal armed groups are forms of human trafficking. Illegal armed groups and criminal organizations continued to forcibly recruit or use child soldiers in armed conflict and exploit children in forced labor and sex trafficking. According to government reports, ICBF officials assisted 134 children who in 2023 demobilized between January and October.

By the end of 2023, the country hosted nearly 2.9 million Venezuelans, and most of the foreign victims identified by the government were Venezuelan migrants. By August 2023, two million Venezuelans had completed the regularization process to receive 10-year temporary protected status, which provided access to government social services, including education for school-aged children, health insurance, and employment permits. The government had policies to regulate recruitment agencies, including those placing workers abroad and had regulations prohibiting worker recruitment fees. The MOL did not report investigating recruitment agencies for fraudulent employment claims. The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts.

As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Colombia, and traffickers exploit victims from Colombia abroad. Traffickers exploit or have exploited Colombian nationals in at least 38 countries, including Argentina, Aruba, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, the People’s Republic of China, Curacao, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Italy, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Malta, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Poland, Sint Maarten, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates, mainly Dubai, and the United States. Traffickers lure victims with fraudulent employment opportunities to later exploit them in sex trafficking and forced labor. In 2022, 36 percent of victims in domestic trafficking cases were from Bogotá and Antioquia Department, and 59 percent of victims were identified in Bogotá, Antioquia, and Norte de Santander. Government reports indicate between 85 and 95 percent of victims identified in Colombia were adults. Groups at high risk for trafficking include Venezuelans; LGBTQI+ individuals; Afro-Colombians; members of Indigenous groups; individuals with disabilities; migrants, including those with intentions to cross the Darien en route to the United States; IDPs; and those living in areas with active illegal armed groups and criminal organizations. The practice of compelling children to labor as domestic workers, criadazgo, is a common form of trafficking in the country and is largely normalized and invisible to authorities. Middle- and upper-income families in urban and rural areas take on children, almost exclusively from impoverished Afro descendent and Indigenous families and disproportionately from Wayuu Indigenous communities, as domestic workers. Families are promised compensation for their children, including room, board, money, a small stipend, or access to educational opportunities, but very few children in these work conditions receive the promised compensation. ICBF authorities did not keep a record of how many children were in criadazgo situations. However, according to a report, 4,893 children, some of whom may have been trafficking victims, entered the PARD process between 2019 and 2023, including only three from indigenous communities in La Guajira, where the Wayuu reside. Colombian children in situations of criadazgo are highly vulnerable to sex and labor trafficking.

The nearly 2.9 million Venezuelans living in Colombia were at high risk for sex and labor trafficking. In 2022, an investigative report uncovered cases of Venezuelan children in Cartagena being exploited in forced begging by family members and acquaintances. Venezuelan migrants in border cities often used their daily earnings to cover the costs of pay-per-day rooms, or pagadiarios, and, when they could not pay, some owners allegedly exploited migrant tenants in forced criminality or sex trafficking as means for paying rent.

Sex trafficking of Colombian women and girls is prevalent in the country, particularly in densely populated cities and areas with tourism and large extractive industries. Transgender Colombians and Colombian men involved with commercial sex work are vulnerable to sex trafficking in Colombia and Europe. Traffickers also recruit vulnerable women and girls, mostly Colombians and displaced Venezuelans, into “webcam modeling” – an unregulated industry that likely generated more than $1.2 billion a year in Colombia. In some cases, traffickers drugged women and girls, employed fear and coercion tactics, and created situations of financial indebtedness and extortion to force victims to perform live streamed sex acts. Government officials and civil society organizations have expressed concern about the burgeoning webcam industry and its ties to sex trafficking. Traffickers lure boys into forced labor, promising the opportunity to play in international soccer leagues; subjecting them to debt bondage, document confiscation, and wage garnishment; and in some cases, exploiting them in different sectors, including sex trafficking and domestic servitude.

Traffickers exploit Colombian nationals in forced labor activities across mining, coffee, and domestic service sectors. Forced labor is prevalent in the extraction of coal, alluvial gold, and emeralds; coffee harvesting, palm production; begging in urban areas; and domestic service. Traffickers exploit Colombian children working in the informal sector and street vending in forced labor. In 2022, an international NGO indicated pagadiarios, housing that is paid daily, in Bogotá were a gateway to the recruitment of victims by criminal groups, who often induced migrants to consume drugs to foster a dependency that would compel them into criminality. Traffickers operating fake charities offer shelter to vulnerable migrants to later exploit them in sex trafficking and forced criminality.

Several illegal armed groups, including U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) like the National Liberation Army (ELN), Segunda Marquetalia, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People’s Army (FARC-EP), a dissident group of the now demobilized FARC, and Clan del Golfo, are known to operate in areas where vulnerable people may be exploited in human trafficking and other illicit activities. These groups, particularly in the departments of Cauca, Chocó, Córdoba, Nariño, and Norte de Santander forcibly recruit or use children, including Venezuelan, Indigenous, and Afro-Colombian youth, to serve as combatants and informants, harvest illicit crops, and exploit them in sex trafficking. In 2022, an international organization reported 77 percent of municipalities in Chocó department and 33 percent of municipalities in Nariño department were at high risk for child soldier recruitment, particularly Indigenous and Afro-Colombian children. According to an investigative report released in 2023, El Tren de Aragua – a transnational criminal organization originating in Venezuela – and the U.S.-designated FTO ELN operate sex trafficking networks in the border town of Villa del Rosario in the Norte de Santander department. These groups exploit Venezuelan migrants and internally displaced Colombians in sex trafficking and take advantage of economic vulnerabilities to subject them to debt bondage. Women, children, and adolescents who demilitarized and separated from illegal armed groups are vulnerable to trafficking. According to sources, members of the ELN and U.S.-designated FTO FARC-EP lure or kidnap women to work in their camps, exploiting them in sex trafficking and, at times, transporting them into Venezuela. Separately, members of El Tren de Aragua reportedly gained the trust of their victims by housing them in pagadiarios in Colombia, providing them food, allowing them to incur daily debts, and, when they are unable to pay, exploiting them in sex trafficking. They allegedly marked women and girls behind their ears to prove ownership. El Tren de Aragua reportedly used the local transportation hub in Cúcuta to transfer victims of trafficking to other countries in the region, including Argentina, Ecuador, and Peru in addition to contacts to facilitating trafficking operations in Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, Pereira, and border cities.