Europe and Latin America’s commitment to fight organized crime

The project EL PAcCTO:, which aims to strengthen the fight against organized crime in Latin America, has held its annual meeting over the past few days. This has served as an opportunity to reflect on the opportunity, for both Europe and Latin America, to seek joint formulas for effective coordination against transnational organized crime.

At the meeting of EL PAcCTO, which is financed by the European Union and managed by FIIAPP and Expertise France , with the support of IILA and Camões , eight specialized workshops were held in which it was concluded that there is a need to develop procedures for collaborations between institutions to make a real impact in the fight against organized crime. Likewise, successful experiences from the project were presented, such as the creation of Specialized Multidisciplinary Teams and support for mechanisms for locating, recovering, managing and confiscating criminal assets.  Another highlight was the implementation of the “EL PAcCTO Tables“, which serve as a forum for coordinating project activities, with a commitment to a multidisciplinary approach to various criminal issues, such as trafficking in human beings, environmental crime, arms trafficking, cybercrime, money laundering, and gender and human rights issues.

The event was attended by representatives of numerous Latin American institutions (Police and Security Forces, Public Ministries, Supreme Courts, as well as Ameripol, the Ibero-American Association of Public Ministries and the Ibero-American Judicial Summit , among others) and European institutions, such as EUROPOL and the European Commission. These attendees came from 16 countries in Latin America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay)  and several European countries involved in the fight against organized crime, who have proven their commitment to finding effective coordination models.

The ambassador of the Delegation of the EU in Mexico , Klaus Rudischhauser, highlighted at the opening of the meeting that “it is important to understand that a country cannot fight crime individually , so it is necessary to cooperate and coordinate.”