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Press Release

OAS and Ameripol sign cooperation agreement to strengthen citizen security

In San Salvador today, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, and the President of the Police Community of the Americas (Ameripol), Leandro Daiello Coimbra, signed a cooperation agreement to develop initiatives for strengthening the capacities of the regional institutions responsible for ensuring public security.

The signing of the document took place at the Hotel Sheraton in the Salvadoran capital on the occasion of the 41st General Assembly of the OAS, the theme of which is “Citizen Security in the Americas” and which is to be inaugurated tomorrow at the International Fairs and Convention Center (CIFCO). Ameripol is a regional institution with objectives that include promoting and strengthening police cooperation, facilitating exchanges of information, and coordinating sustained actions in the areas of criminal investigations and legal assistance.

At the agreement signing ceremony, Secretary General Insulza expressed his satisfaction at this initiative, noting the importance of cooperation in addressing the threats to public security posed by the different manifestations of transnational organized crime. “This cooperation with the police is essential in the program of coordination in fighting transnational crime that we are seeking to develop,” said the hemispheric body’s ranking official.

“Today, citizen security is a public service, a social public asset, like housing, education, health: something that citizens demand to ensure a better life, to enjoy the fruits of their labors and those of their families.” “And,” he added, “as our economies grow and develop, our citizens are entitled to greater aspirations, and one of the things to which they aspire is ever greater security.”

According to the text of the agreement, it seeks to establish a framework for interinstitutional cooperation to “promote and coordinate initiatives for developing and strengthening the capacities of the agencies responsible for ensuring the security of the citizens of the Hemisphere’s states, through the design and implementation of technical assistance initiatives and exchanges of experiences.” In particular, the parties will include, in their respective working programs, proposals for the joint implementation of programs, projects, and activities of common interest. The OAS Secretariat for Multidimensional Security, under the leadership of Ambassador Adam Blackwell, will be in charge of implementing and complying with the terms of the agreement.

The President of Ameripol emphasized that for the agency he leads, “this is one of the most important agreements that we have signed, in that it coincides with the objectives for Ameripol that have been discussed in recent years.” He also said that “combating transnational crime, in conjunction with the OAS and national governments, is becoming an increasingly real possibility, as is forging closer ties between our police forces.”

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.
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For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-707/11