President Bernardo Arévalo, in a press conference this Monday, June 15, was consulted about the meeting of the Attorney General, Gabriel García Luna, and the Minister of the Interior, Marco Antonio Villeda, with representatives of the United States Department of Justice.
He highlighted that the visit to the United States of both officials “constitutes an enormous message,” since for a long time authorities from the Public Ministry “could not enter” that country due to lack of visa, which limited any coordination effort.
“On the other hand, with the Public Ministry co-opted by these political-criminal networks, it would not be possible to coordinate the work that was being done with the Ministry of the Interior, which has the responsibility of carrying out the persecution, containing crime and assisting citizens with their security needs,” he stated.
He said that this visit highlights that coordination with the United States is resumed at the highest level and, at the same time, that there must be coordination between the security forces and the investigative entity to effectively confront delinquency and organized crime.
He explained that during the visit there was a review of the issues on the joint agenda, such as security and combating drug trafficking.
He announced that, as a result of the meeting, internal effectiveness is expected to increase through coordination processes and cooperation will increase.
Just last June 11, it was reported that the Attorney General and the Minister of the Interior met with officials from the Department of Justice in US federal offices in Washington, DC, with the purpose of consolidating bilateral collaboration and coordinating strategies to combat crime that affects both countries.
The authorities addressed issues related to the fight against human trafficking networks, drug trafficking and other transnational criminal structures operating in the region.
In addition, they analyzed mechanisms to strengthen investigation and criminal prosecution capabilities, as well as actions aimed at dismantling organizations dedicated to organized crime and bringing their members to justice, as reported on that occasion.
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