Demonstrators protest the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, terrorists with extensive ties to transnational crime.

Washington -- While recent years have seen a decrease in terrorist activity in the Western Hemisphere, a U.S. government report highlights a growing link between terrorists and transnational organized crime.

“Terrorist activities and support for terrorist infrastructure are funded by contributions from individuals, false charities and front organizations, but also, increasingly, through other illicit activities such as trafficking in persons, smuggling and narcotrafficking,” says the State Department’s 2007 Country Reports on Terrorism, released April 30.

Many of the 42 groups recognized as foreign terrorist organizations by the United States have criminal ties, says David Johnson, the top U.S. envoy specializing in confronting illegal drugs and organized crime. The most notable of these groups is the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which has raised an estimated $60 million a year from narcotics trafficking, in addition to an active campaign of kidnappings for ransom.

Other regional terrorist groups straddling the criminal underworld include Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) and United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), as well as Peru’s Sendero Luminoso.

“These terrorist organizations have facilitated narcotrafficking by protecting illicit cultivation, processing and trafficking, corrupting officials, taxing growers in exchange for protection and smuggling narcotics across borders to finance their violence,” says Johnson.

Cuba has been designated as a state sponsor of terrorism in part for providing safe haven for members of the FARC and ELN, says State Department Counterterrorism Coordinator Dell Dailey. That situation has yet to be reversed with the country’s recent change in government.

While Venezuela is not designated as a terrorism sponsor, the 2007 Country Reports considers its close ties with terrorism sponsor Iran cause for concern. The Venezuelan government’s “ideological sympathy” with the Colombian groups, its discoveries of Venezuelan arms in FARC arsenals, and its reaction to a March 1 Colombian border crossing into Ecuador in pursuit of FARC militants add to the regional security concerns.

“We’re watching it very carefully,” says Dailey, noting that FARC laptop computers seized in its border camp are being examined by Colombian authorities and may reveal additional information about the group’s links to organized crime, as well other operational details.

The link between terrorists and criminals is a two-way street, says Johnson, leading to criminal gangs employing terrorist tactics to enforce their illicit monopolies, as exemplified by the Zetas, Mexico-based enforcers for the Gulf drug cartel and MS-13, a Salvadoran gang engaged in criminal activities across North and Central America.

Working through the United Nations, the Organization of American States and other international bodies, the United States is committed to building strong partnerships to give countries across the region the tools they need to safeguard their citizens from crime and terrorism, says Johnson.

Through its “Democratic Security Policy,” Colombia has used a combination of military, intelligence, policing and rural development efforts to cut the number of FARC attacks in half in 2007. The United States has helped Colombia through training, drug interdiction efforts, security assistance and cooperation in tracking and freezing terrorist finances.

In Mexico, President Felipe Calderon has taken action against drug cartels by strengthening the country’s judiciary and rooting out corruption, and is working with the United States, Guatemala and other governments in the region to confront transnational crime through the Merida Initiative.

“This is a challenge that Mexico has taken on,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates said April 29 after meeting with Mexican defense officials. “We support it, and we will do what we can to support it. But we essentially will take the guide or the lead of the Mexican government on this in terms of what they think would be helpful.”

The Bush administration has requested $1.1 billion from Congress to support the Merida Initiative, which complements U.S. efforts to reduce domestic demand for illegal drugs and aims to stop southward flows of illegal weapons and confront international crime.

For more information, see transcripts of Johnson's remarks and Dailey's remarks.