A Cyber Concentration: Examining the EU's Strategic Imperative for Digital Defense in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC4)

Introduction

May 26th, 2022, was a fateful day for the Dominican Republic’s capital of Santo Domingo, for nestled in the Zona Colonial neighborhood—and about half a mile from the balmy Caribbean tropical coast—was the newly-opened Latin America and Caribbean Competence Center (LAC4).  This initiative, which fosters a movement toward collaborative cyber resilience across regional communities, strives alongside the strategic vision of its parent organization, EU Cybernet, and is hosted in the Dominican Republic. 

However, the institute's development cannot be attributed solely to a sporadic proposal, but to an increasing global attention towards cybersecurity education. For instance, the EU Cybernet program was founded thirty-two months before the opening of LAC4. The 2010s marked a sharp increase in EU attention to the cyber domain, starting with its 2013 strategy presented in Brussels. The Joint Communication: Cybersecurity Strategy policy that resulted from the meeting highlighted the critical need to secure the European Union's digital infrastructure and economy, and later, after further discussion, the EU’s 1st edition of the Operational Guidance to establish effective cybersecurity strategy implementation. These forums combined affirmed not only the need for the union to delve into the strength of its cybersecurity initiatives, but also to ensure the strength of cyber-infrastructure across EU member states and stakeholders. 

Further, these discussions asserted the need for a structure that avoids duplication in external cybersecurity-related assistance. Moreover, these calls were met in 2019 with the creation of the network that would enable cyber-related training and education and accelerate the cyber capacity of EU member states. At last, a globally-minded coordination infrastructure was born: EU Cybernet, centered in Tallinn, Estonia. As of 2025, the initiative has connected with over ninety countries worldwide with crucial cyber-related skills and has led to the education of 13,000 security experts in the public and private sectors. 

However, more than 5,500 miles from the Baltic center lay escalating concerns.  LAC—better known as Latin America and the Caribbean—was struggling with its weaknesses in cyber-related skills. According to American cybersecurity firm Fortinet, the region had over 137 billion cyberattacks in just the first six months of 2022, and of the region’s smaller nations in particular struggled with the already-widespread recruitment concerns. For instance, up to ninety-seven percent of Brazilian recruiters reportedly faced difficulties. 

Additionally, the National Cybersecurity Index had labeled some LATAM nations, such as Haiti, Suriname, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, as all outside the top one-hundred nations, trailing behind their neighbors of Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Chile, and Brazil that lie among the top fifty. These disparities demonstrated the unequal levels of digital fluency across the region, as those who were least prepared were vulnerable to the world of cybercrime and were isolated from future development. For instance, Haiti was listed as 187th in the United Nations’ E-Government Development Index (EGDI) in 2022, emphasizing that some of the region’s technological infrastructure was insufficient and unable to accelerate national capital. These realities emphasize the absence of efficient public services and infrastructure to boost national digital participation and readiness. 

Ultimately, these profound circumstances and challenges fostered the development of LAC4. Funded by the European Union, the bi-regional collaboration between Europe and Latin America accelerated the establishment of a permanent, regional cyber education node. Furthermore, the Dominican Republic was selected to be the host of the project for its geographic connections between Latin America and the Caribbean. 

Still, when transforming a conceptual initiative into a concrete manifestation, structure is imperative. Hence, the LAC4 regional project relies on the support of the Estonian Information Systems Authority—which is ultimately the management agency of EU Cybernet—and runs on an internal structure consisting of a general assembly and a board. 

Technical Training Expertise

As LAC4 Regional Manager Cesar Moline Rodriguez explained, the main objective of the institution was not to transform the region into a marketplace for technology, but to “have resilient societies can continue their digital transformation without fear” (Rodriguez 2023). As assured by its operational vision, the project is not solely a product of diplomatic desires but of a passionate effort and a striving to provide a digitally-centered education and reform to catalyze further infrastructural and human capital development. In the current environment underdoing digitalization, regular education and training are crucial. 

Subsequently, in the years following its “birth,” LAC4 has aimed to provide transformational opportunities in a variety of formats. Firstly, the center hosts the annual CyberWeek flagship event to encourage CSIRT development. The event—which has attracted participants from over thirty countries in recent years—includes technical opportunities in Incident Response workshops, simulations, and training sessions on vulnerability management and malware identification, in addition to social exchanges serving as a forum for national cyber-based collaboration, assistance, and support.

And in order to emphasize information integration and immersion, the site hosts a forensics lab to combine technical training with a background in legal and policy-based understanding, especially in the fields of cybercrime investigation.  

Additionally, the center has gender-specific sessions as well, especially through its Women in CyberTech programs that consist of online educational forums and programs into on-site training in the Dominican center to empower women from over 42 countries. This action addresses the significant gender gap in current cybersecurity workforce models. These initiatives and events have manifested in much of the center’s impact as women have been trained, contributing to the total 2,600 individuals trained by recent programs in over 50 events across the LAC region. 

Policy, Governance, and Strategy

Governance and policy failures have often transformed disparities and structural weaknesses into detrimental global crises, underscoring the pressing need for policy reform. Before the founding of LAC4, only seven of the official thirty-two LATAM countries had policy plans revolving around information security and infrastructure, and among global cybersecurity indexes—such as Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI), and National Cyber Security Index (NCSI)—many Caribbean nations in particular ranked in the bottom tiers. 

These concerns often manifested into real-world devastations for these states: in April and May 2022, the Conti and Hive cyber teams attacked Costa Rica through detrimental ransomware attacks. Specifically, these attacks affected Costa Rican tax collection infrastructure and led the trade and customs sectors to lose thirty million U.S. dollars daily across the course of a few weeks and paralyzing over thirty government institutions, preventing the usage of the foundational public services and trade. 

To address the specific policy conditions of each nation, LAC4 constructed a dynamic, sustainable response: National Strategy Implementation Seminars. These forums and platforms for reconstruction are held on a variety of scales, ranging from national audiences to multinational audiences. As of 2025, the institution has reached the nations of Guyana, Bolivia, Colombia, and Guatemala, in addition to the host country of the Dominican Republic, and has led seminars for national cybersecurity strategy implementation and governance framework development, connecting with over 2,600 organizations and participants. 

For the nations with a critical need for immediate aid, the Cyber Hygiene Platform was instituted to serve as an initial awareness tool in fields such as threat recognition and awareness, and currently serves the nations of Antigua, Ecuador, and Guatemala.

Regional and Bi-Regional Cooperation

Nevertheless, the foundation of the initiative's success does significantly come from its support from its EU organizations, especially as it progresses through its initial stages. At the 2022 inauguration of LAC4, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs Josep Borell said that the new partnership between the LAC and EU nations would affirm their “shared values” in strategy and policy, aiming to align perspectives and invest in a joint digital strategies that empower civilian protection. 

This narrative is greatly relevant to why LAC4’s earliest programs were financially supported by the European Commission (EC) through the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments, taking a percentage of EU Cybernet’s 9 million euros for its first six-year phase—spanning from December 2019 to August 2025. This allocation validated the EU’s commitment towards developing cybersecurity models across several years in the creation of a definitive platform rather than a short-term aid program. 

Furthermore, outside of its financial contribution, the EU-LAC Digital Alliance serves as an additional affirmation of the original EU vision: to foster inclusive, bi-regional cooperation towards digital advancement. Founded in March 2023, the partnership strives to create a platform that will serve the two geographic blocs in conversation about data governance, security models, and additional rising tech-centered fields, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI).  

These conversations revolving the cyber-domain often take place in LAC countries, and in past years, over nine policy dialogues have been held in locations such as Santiago, Chile, Antigua, Guatemala, and San José, Costa Rica, where officials from the two regions share digital strategies and engage in forums. This demonstrates the growing inclusion of LAC countries' presence in digital and cyber-centric conversations, serving as equal partners among other blocs in development. 

Lastly, the LAC4 is aligned with the regional-based CAIRCOM Cybercrime and Cybersecurity Action Plan (2025) and RedCLARA organizations to maximize collaboration in the sub-region through region-centered organizations. Working as a framework for primarily Caribbean nations, LAC4 continues to contribute to its mission to institute cyber-related resilience, specifically in activities such as Cybercrabs 2022, in which over twenty nations worked on strengthening their crisis management and response.  

RedCLARA, meanwhile, is recognized as a "Participation Nation” in LAC4 initiatives despite not being a political entity, and currently works on strengthening a digital network to ensure that LAC-centered researchers can continue to develop innovative findings and infrastructure to accelerate their nations. 

In essence, the current utilization of these tools represents the overarching movement towards cyber resilience in each corner of the world, backed by the continuous effort of hundreds who aimed to make a platform that would help to drastically increase impact and service towards local communities in defense, access, and innovation. The exact birth of the LAC4 was founded on—assisted by GOs such as the United Nations and Information System Authority (RIA) that helped initially advocate and fund the development through international cooperation—reflects its mission to serve international communities in the online era.

In the coming years, as LAC4 enters its second phase, it will continue to contribute to this cycle through a new, additional premise: serving LAC SMEs with tools to support economic sectors. After all, the contributions of the institute can demonstrate an ideal it significantly represents: it takes a village to strengthen one.

Bibliography

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