El Paccto summit in Santo Domingo, strong Italian role in the fight against organized crime

Around 270 participants from 39 countries, 31 Latin American and Caribbean and 8 European, gathered in Santo Domingo from 13 to 15 October for the Annual Meeting of El Paccto 2.0, the European program against transnational organized crime. The EU institutions and 30 international bodies were also present, including Interpol, Ameripol and Gafilat.

At the center of the work - according to a note - are the priorities of Euro-Latin American cooperation in the field of justice and security until 2030. The Dominican Attorney General, Yeni Berenice Reynoso, defined El Paccto 2.0 as "the factor that has changed the paradigm of judicial cooperation between Europe and Latin America", citing Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino as "a model to draw inspiration from".

"Organized crime today is violent and at the same time infiltrative and governs through corruption, money laundering and prison control", explained the Deputy Director of the programme, magistrate Giovanni Tartaglia Polcini, in his speech. The Italian pillar of El Paccto 2.0 is carried out by the Italian-Latin American International Organization (Iila) with the coordination of the Farnesina and deals with anti-corruption, money laundering, confiscations and the penitentiary system.

The Italian experts Giovanni Russo and Flavia Guarnaccia presented respectively penitentiary cooperation, also inspired by the 41 bis model, and the first regional anti-corruption strategy for Latin America. The Strategy, launched in Buenos Aires, will continue in Mexico City at the end of November and in Brasilia in December.

The meeting - it is underlined - also coincided with the visit to Rome of the Dominican President Luis Abinader, who signed a Declaration of Strengthened Partnership with Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani which also calls for judicial cooperation on the basis of the "Falcone-Borsellino" program and El Paccto 2.0.