Above: Mexico City

By the Caribbean Journal staff

International cooperation is essential to fighting organized crime, according to Dominican Republic Attorney General Dr Radhames Jimenez Peña.

Jimenez was speaking as a guest lecturer at the High-Level Hemispheric Meeting Against Transnational Organized Crime in Mexico City that began Thursday..

Because organized crime has no borders, the fight against it should also go beyond borders, he said.

“This is achieved by formalizing a strategic alliance between our states that makes it impossible for criminals to look for refuge in any place on earth,” Jimenez said.

The Attorney General said the region needed to strengthen various aspects of cooperation such as extradition, mutual legal assistance, exchange of information and intelligence and investigative techniques.

He said it was crucial to take a proactive approach, something he said was not presently the case.

“We are acting reactively,” he said.