Dominican Republic and Mexico sign crimefighting plan

Santo Domingo.-The Dominican and Mexican authorities are planning joint strategies for acomprehensive joint plan to fight crime and drug trafficking, according toJustice Minister Radhamés Jiménez and his Mexican counterpart MariselaMorales Ibáñez.

“At present, in the DominicanRepublic as well as Mexico, we are immersed in an unprecedented fight againstorganized transnational crime, for which we have coordinated the execution ofpublic policies that combine our efforts and those of other countries toprevent this from transgressing our borders,” they declared.

The Justice Ministers spoke of theneed to establish an alliance that also includes mutual judicial cooperation onterrorism, organized crime and connected offenses.

The agreement, signed in Santo Domingo last week, involves exchanges ofexperience on cases of corruption, human trafficking, narcotics and chemicalcomponents, and money laundering.

Mutual cooperation will includeinvestigations and judicial processes for any crime as set out in thelegislation of both countries, including violations linked to taxes and customsrights.

They also signed a second agreement aimed at encouraging and improving training for public servants in areas of mutual interest. This agreement involves exchanges of experiences in design, planning and execution of selection, and initial training processes for applicants and members of the Legal System.

The signing event was attended by the Mexican ambassador in the Dominican Republic, José Ignacio Piña, assistant AGs Juan Amado Cedano Santana, Roxanna Reyes and Moisés Ferrer, and the director of the anti-money laundering unit, Germán Daniel Miranda Villalona.

Santo Domingo District Attorney Yeni Berenice Reynoso, judicial training school director Wilson Camacho, training adviser Ramón Núñez, and assistants Danissa Cruz and José Dantés were also present.