(Feb 13) – Italian magistrates and officers of Carabinieri, Polizia and Guardia di Finanza will be involved, in the next months, in a project aimed to improve the security strategy in Central America to fight money laundering and organized crime. The so called “Three Forces” will make regulatory assessments, operational and technical standards for each country of the Central American Integration System.
First stage of the project was the visit in San Salvador by a delegation led by Piero Grasso, Italy’s chief anti-mafia prosecutor, and composed by the chief of the Guardia di Finanza General Headquarters – 2nd Department, Gen. B. Michele Carbone, by Foreign Minister Counselor for international crimes, the magistrate Rosario Aitala, and several officials of the Criminal Police.
The event was deeply appreciated by all the participants, including Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs of El Salvador. Not only interested in the Italian experience in fighting transnational crime and the Mafia, the San Salvador Ministers have remarked “the importance and effectiveness of such a project in a context where corruption, violence of criminal gangs and money laundering seriously threat the difficult process of democratization and development of the region.” (Ram)
EL SALVADOR: TOURISTS AT RISK
El Salvador is one the most dangerous countries of Central America. The criminal events hit Salvadorans and foreigners. Assaults with a deadly weapon – as you can read on the site of the Travel Safe MFA – are very common, even for motor vehicles stop at traffic lights or in transit; kidnappings are more targeted, although it may be caused by the mere exhibition of money. Another negative factor, the steady increase of drug trafficking organizations from Mexico and also from other areas of Central America.
