MEXICO-GANGS/CONFERENCE Conference on gangs opens in Mexico; speakers point to effect of organised crime on foreign investment

Record ID: 149834

  • Title: MEXICO-GANGS/CONFERENCE Conference on gangs opens in Mexico; speakers point to effect of organised crime on foreign investment
  • Date: 2nd June 2015
  • Summary: TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS (FILE) (REUTERS) SEIZED WEAPONS FOLLOWING OPERATION ARRESTED GANG MEMBERS DURING PRESENTATION
  • Embargoed: 17th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Honduras
  • Country: Honduras
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7CMLYMQXPE50T5HZDIMU3C20L
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: US Ambassador Anthony Wayne said on Tuesday (June 2) gangs are affecting foreign investment in countries gripped by drug trafficking and criminal activities in general.
    Opening the third annual gang conference in Mexico City in which more than 400 law enforcement officers from Mexico, United States, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua are taking part, Wayne said companies were forced to spend on safety measures to counter security issues.
    The four-day event, ending on Thursday (June 4), is designed to enhance the skills of law enforcement to respond and identify potential threats from gang members and their partners operating in the region.
    "The cost of doing business in countries affected by organised crime, is increasing because the companies are forced to increase their operative costs due to the expenses in security they have to invest in, negatively affecting the flow of foreign investment," Wayne said.
    Barbara Gonzalez, senior advisor to Latin America, immigration and customs enforcement (ICE), said criminal gangs had diversified and that regional security officers would seek to stem the flow of criminal money.
    "We will continue battling these transnational organisations. We know yesterday's gangs and not like today's. These gangs are involved in human trafficking, in drug trafficking, in money laundering, in all types of crime, in falsification of goods. Obviously every transnational criminal organisation needs money to work. Part of our strategy will also be to combat that flow of money. identify that flow of money to be able to identify it and take it," Gonzalez said.
    With the support of the Merida Initiative, more than 700 Mexican officers have been trained since 2003. Mexican officials who have participated in the programme have arrested more than 200 gang members in Mexico alone.
    As one of the leading institutions to combat gangs, ICE has invests its resources heavily in the area, facilitating the joint work of the agency with Latin American law enforcement institutions, to attack the core structure of these criminal groups.
    According to an official news release, since the launch of a programme called Operation Community Shield in 2005 to the present date, more than 36,000 gang members associated with more than 2,600 gangs operating in the United States have ben arrested and more than 6,600 firearms have been seized.
    The vast majority of those arrested had a history of violent crime. More than 490 of those arrested were gang leaders and more than 4,700 belonged or were associated with the MS-13 group.
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