The Moreira Brothers (leaders of PRI) and Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón

Besides being an advisor of the Organization of American States (OAS), and directly involved in the peace process in Colombia, Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón has been very active in other matters related to Latin American politics.

Recently in Mexico, Judge Garzón was invited to an international Conference on Money Laundering. During the event, the famous Spanish judge said “the fight against money laundering should be rigorous and global, otherwise it will fail”.
Global War on Money Laundering .- During the closing ceremony of the Forum “Democratic legality, Ethics, Human Rights and Security”  held at the Mexican Congress ,  Judge Garzón also said that “money laundering is an international phenomenon so it must be combatted on a multilateral basis as it would otherwise be a failure.”
Legislators, officials and Mexican specialists agreed with Garzon on the importance of globally combatting organized crime and money laundering, and also agreed on fighting it both locally and internationally.

Garzon recommended Mexico modernize their traditional organized crime research and invest in new technology to combat money laundering.

“A money laundering law must be rigorous and it is urgent to establish launderer´s behaviors and mechanisms, such as those imposed in other countries,” he said.

Against decriminalization of drug trafficking.- In a press conference after the event,  Judge Garzon spoke against drug decriminalization.  He said that in Mexico decriminalization is not  going to end organized crime, because besides drugs, cartels and criminal gangs are also engaged in kidnapping, extortion, trafficking and vehicle theft.

First, Garzón said, is necessary to create “a joint policy of prevention to reduce the risk of consumption.”

Judge Garzón also advisor of the opposition Mexican Political Party PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional) .-

Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon is active in Mexico.

Humberto Moreira, national president of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) held the first of several meetings that will take place with judge Baltasar Garzon as advisor of the PRI, in order to polish the PRI’s political platform on the issue of human rights, public safety and combatting organized crime.

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PRI, as well as the former governor of Hidalgo, Miguel Ángel Osorio Chong, secretary of political operations of the PRI, are having this round of consultations with Judge Garzón as well as other international experts to ensure a viable anti-crime proposal.

During the meeting, Garzón declared himself in favor of strengthening institutional frameworks against drug trafficking before talking about new laws. Garzón has a more practical and hands on point of view.
Moreira Valdes (PRI) said in an interview that the party’s central concern is how to ensure respect for human rights in the fight against organized crime.

He also revealed that this is the third meeting he has with Baltasar Garzon, in an attempt to define the direction of the security strategy that the country should take.

Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon also called for strict control of rating agencies Moody´s. Standard  Poor´s and Fitch.-

Last Tuesday, Judge Garzón  called on all countries to establish control and oversight over the rating agencies to avoid possible “organized criminal activity” affecting the investment markets and countries.
“There is no control on them on such activities that have become landmarks,” said the judge at the close of the forum “democratic legality, ethics, human rights and security” that took place in chamber of Deputies in Mexico City.
International agencies such as Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch, are allegedly responsible for aggravating the global financial crisis by lending support to controversial downgrades against many countries.
“I’m disturbed by the justice system´s inaction from the various judicial actors” on the role and control of the rating agencies in today’s volatile markets that “are about to bring many countries to ruin,” he said.
Garzon said he was not sure that these agencies perform criminal acts but said the rating agencies “should have a strict regulation” to be sure that “there is no organized criminal activity around the constant speculation on markets and investments.”
Addressing more than a hundred legislators, academics, officials and experts from Mexico and other countries, Garzon said that economic and financial crime is “produced by large corporations through mechanisms of corruption” and market operations.
The judge said that the actions of the rating agencies “can lead countries to ruin or a rising cost of public debt or external debt, to unsuspected limits.”

Peru’s presidential front-runner Keiko Fujimori has hired former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as an adviser in public safety, and the former mayor of New York travelled to Lima to see first hand the situation of crime in Peru.

Rudolph Giuliani,  whose tough police tactics cutted crime in New York and were popular among citizens is now working as a consultant expert in Public Safety and as a global expert on Terrorism after the September 11 attacks, will help Fujimori´s campaign to design effective  public safety programs.
“He has a great record of fighting delinquency, so I think his presence here is helpful to strengthen our proposals,” said front runner Keiko Fujimori of Giuliani on Monday.
However, this initiative could improve Keiko´s chances in the main cities, where she is already much stronger than Humala. Giulani´s presence will also improve the amount of conservative voters, which is like adding more water in the pool, since Keiko is already strong among conservatives.

Analysts said what she needs is to gain votes in the countryside and from the voters with low socio economic status, and it is difficult to say how Giulani´s presence will help her to achieve that. Public safety is a top concern ‘of voters, according to the polls. So, time will say..

Ollanta Humala won the first elections round, and since then Keiko Fujimori has been more succesfull by gaining more votes than Humala. Now, Fujimori is leading the polls by a small margin.
Keiko Fujimori indicated Giuliani will help with Programs combating urban crime in cities like Lima.  Nowadays, Peru faces broad security though risks.
Peru has seen a rise in violent crime in recent years that local police say is related at least in part to drug trafficking. The country is the top global producer of coca leaf in the world. The coca leaf is the raw material used to produce cocaine.
The Government is also trying to catch two remnant bands of the maoist terrorist movement Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) who, as the FARC did before, went into the cocaine business after  tyhe leader Abigail Guzman was in the 1990s by the elder Fujimori’s security forces (Alberto Fujimori, former President of Peru and father of Keiko, now in prison).
Giulani has already worked as a consultant in Latin American countries like Mexico, Brazil and Colombia and Peru, and now he decided to send two experts who have been two months in the country and will articulate the recommendations to Keiko Fujimori.
Giuliani, who said he was surprised “a lot” about high public perceptions of insecurity in Peru, said that programs to reduce crime rates should adjust to the reality of each place. “Before making recommendations, it is necessary to know the people of the city, because no single method can serve all the cities,” said the international consultant.
He warned that reducing levels of crime in the cities “can not happen  in two or three months” and exemplified by the “two years” it took to see the first results in New York and even the four that are necessary for citizens to take consciousness. For the consultant, public support is essential to achieve good results in reducing crime, but also stressed the need to create a police force “honest, responsible, accountable.”

The news has generated considerable media attention which could favor the candidate who is currently ahead in the polls over his opponent, Ollanta Humala, in the face of the second round on 5 June. Recent survey by the pollster CPI, released last weekend shows that the centrist candidate Fujimori would get 52.9% of the vote while leftist and “Chavez” admirer Ollanta Humala  achieved 47.1%.

Director of European police cooperation group Europol Rob Wainwright

The Internet has become one of the main tools of European organized crime and human trafficking, drugs and money laundering in addition to being a vehicle of cybercrime.

According to a new report by the European Police Office, Europol, in the last two years have seen a marked increase of criminal groups who use the Internet to commit “traditional “crimes.

“This is a new picture of crime, increasingly marked by highly mobile groups and flexible operating in multiple jurisdictions and criminal sectors, and supported, in particular, by widespread and illegal use of internet, “says the report.

According to the institution, the network is being increasingly used to facilitate illegal immigration and trafficking in counterfeit goods provide with endangered species, among other crimes.

“The Internet has become the main facilitator of organized crime , ” said the director of Europol , Rob Wainwright .

More police to the mexican border.

Mexico will have a Border Police with tasks such as to prevent illegal entry of weapons, explosives and other substances into the national territory of Mexico by the border areas, mainly the United States.

Yesterday, the House of Representatives in Mexico also endorsed that the Border Police are in charge of prosecuting crimes of human trafficking, slavery, trafficking in human organs, and ultimately provide protection to the rights of Mexicans repatriated, mostly with U.S. illegal status.

The Border Police will be grouped within the Federal Police and will be empowered to monitor the 49 customs locations of the country such as checkpoints, monitoring centers and immigration control, airports and seaports authorized for international traffic and airspace.

The National Defense Secretariat seized last year in these functions, 487.026 kilograms of marijuana, 1307 kilograms of cocaine, 5.880 weapons, 1,305,991 cartridges, 60.1 million pesos, 22.8 billion dollars, 3.440 vehicles and the arrest of 3,200 people in Lower California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, and Quintana Roo, Campeche, Tabasco and Chiapas.

The primary responsibilities of the DHS are :

a)      protecting the territory of the U.S. from terrorist attacks and

b)      responding to natural disasters.

In FY 2010 it was allocated a budget of $42.7 billion and spent, net, $56.4 billion.

The Department of Homeland Security works in the civilian sphere to protect the United States within, at, and outside its borders.

Its stated mission is to:

a)      prepare for,

b)      prevent,

c)      and respond to domestic emergencies, particularly terrorism.

On March 1, 2003, DHS absorbed the Immigration and Naturalization Service and assumed its duties. In doing so, it divided the enforcement and services functions into two separate and new agencies: Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE and the Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Additionally, the border enforcement functions of the INS and  the U.S. Customs Service were consolidated into a new agency under DHS: U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

With more than 200,000 employees, DHS is the third largest Cabinet department within the federal government, after the Departments of Defense and Veteran Affairs.

Homeland Security policy is coordinated at the White House by the Homeland Security Council.

According to analysts, the creation of DHS constituted the most significant U.S. government reorganization since the Cold War, and the most substantial reorganization of U.S. federal agencies since the U.S. National Security Act of 1947.

DHS also constitutes the most diverse merger of federal functions and responsibilities, incorporating 22 government agencies into a single organization.

The report made by the experts, mandated by the Centro de Estudios Espinosa Yglesias (CEEY) revealed that the rating assigned to the presidential proposal was 5.6 on a scale of one to 10.

“Mexico has a problem of leakage and corruption in the customs system that allows criminals to launder 30 billion dollars a year, despite the strict banking regulation,” quoted the document in question.

NOT ENOUGH. Experts Jorge L. Romo and Luis Foncerrada, participating in the panel on the evaluation of the presidential initiative to combat the "money laundering " in Mexico (Photo:credit to ESPINOSA MIGUEL EL UNIVERSAL)

The panel of experts are the following : Ernesto Cervera, Jorge Chabat, José Luis Fernández, Luis Foncerrada, Ramón García, Viator Ortiz, Jorge Romo, Cesar Tello and Patricia Torres.

Experts said the initiative is “perfectible” and exceeds the current rule, but does not include the informal economy.

It is therefore essential to have a prevention strategy to contain risk factors of money laundering in both formal and informal sectors.

It is required, the experts added, to include the entire financial system in the governmental project, as well as customs brokers, pawn shops, exchange offices, correspondent banks, political parties, churches and associations, among others.

They agreed that it is important to have the best supervisors in order to monitor the implementation of the law.

Regarding the use of cash and metals, experts warned that the initiative limits regular commercial activity, which will have an economic impact on the economy.

To avoid a negative effect, recommended the increased use of financial intelligence through monitoring and reporting to the authorities, in order to generate based research to generate greater force.

They suggested setting a limit on the amount of cash transactions in the art market as well as in travel agencies and jewelry centers.

The text concludes that the governmental proposal does not reflect a prevention model that abounds to eliminate or contain the risk factors for future money laundering. Even, it penalizes the formal economy with higher transaction costs in complying with regulatory frameworks.

The evaluation suggested the creation of a network of research units in each state to investigate money laundering and illegal assets and to work in coordination with federal authorities. The experts also suggested opening an institution that acts as a filter for the investigation of crimes that are linked to the money laundering.

FBI returned stolen peruvian art

Today the FBI returned to the government of Peru two Colonial paintings that were recovered by the FBI Art Crime Team. FBI Assistant Director Kevin Perkins, Criminal Investigative Division, presented the artifacts to Ambassador Luis Miguel Valdivieso at a ceremony at the Embassy of Peru in Washington, D.C.

“We are pleased to be able to return these paintings to the government of Peru,” said Assistant Director Perkins. “Unfortunately, Peru suffers from depredations caused by thieves and looters and these stolen and looted objects regularly are brought into the U.S. for sale or display. This deprives the Peruvian people of their religious and cultural heritage and corrupts the legitimate market for works of art.”

In 2005, Exipion Ernesto Ortiz-Espinosa brought two paintings into the United States from Bolivia. One of the paintings, the 18th century oil on canvas known as “Doble Trinidad” or “Sagrada Familia,” depicts the Holy Family with Trinity in a style characteristic of the Cusco School of painting. It has been appraised at $26,000. The other painting, “Saint Dominic,” an 18th century oil on canvas, depicts Saint Dominic offering a wedding veil to Santa Rosa of Lima and has been valued at $38,000. The works are of the Cusco and Lima style of religious painting created to inspire devotion and hung in churches, monasteries, and convents throughout Peru during the Colonial period.

Ortiz consigned the two paintings to a gallery for sale. Suspecting the paintings were stolen when he observed they had been cut from their frames and that the appropriate legal documentation could not be produced, the dealer called