• by IPS Correspondents (naples)
• Tuesday, November 22, 1994
• Inter Press Service

NAPLES, Nov 22 (IPS) - A unified effort is needed to combat international drug trafficking and crime syndicates, said Chilean and Bolivian representatives at the United Nations' conference on organised crime on Tuesday.

Chilean director of public security, Isidro Solis, and head of the Bolivian delegation, Hugo San Martin, both stressed the importance of rapid action to dismantle the financial networks of drug traffickers, along with the mechanisms for money laundering.

"The problems associated with these criminal organisations need urgent solutions," Solis said, adding that his country is prepared to join in coopertive effort to address the situation.

Chile's economic stability and the recent liberalisation of the investment system, promising good returns on foreign capital, offer an ideal opportunity for the country to become a money laundering centre.

Solis said that market accessability in developing countries makes investment easier for the criminal organisations, which have vast resources and technological advantages over state institutions.

San Martin said that serious constitutional and legal limitations hamper Bolivia's attempts to fight organised crime.

"Our disorganised legal system leaves plenty of loopholes for crime to enter our country," he said, adding that it was not designed to deal with the international flow of illegal funds.

He also mentioned that the resurgence of guerrilla groups was distracting security forces' attention away from the fight against organised crime.

Solis and San Martin said the drug cartels encourage the economic dependence of marginal sectors of society, recruiting the poor into illegal organisations and facilitating smuggling between the South American nations.

"Narcotrafficking is, in some way, the cause of all our problems," said San Martin, "it is at the heart of a series of connected criminal activities, like the smuggling of chemicals (used in the production of cocaine), and the money laundering that distorts our economy."

He said that while Bolivia's coca crop is used to produce cocaine, peasant producers have few viable options, and an economic rather than legal solution must be applied to the problem.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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