Above: OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza (OAS Photo/Patricia Leiva)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The Mexican government will convene a High-Level Hemispheric Meeting against Transnational Organized Crime beginning Thursday.

The two-day meeting in Mexico City will address a range of issues, including the strengthening institutions in the fight against transitional crime in the Caribbean.

“Transnational organized crime is the principal continental source of activities such as drug trafficking, the illicit trafficking of firearms and immigrants, human trafficking, money laundering, corruption, kidnapping and cybercrimes,” said OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza.

The OAS will serve as the framework for the meeting.

“When control of organized crime over neighborhoods, communities or broader geographical areas impedes or substitutes for the work of public institutions, we are before a full threat to democratic governance,” Insulza said.