Santo Domingo. The Attorney General’s Office of the Republic and the National Prosecutor’s Office of Chile signed an agreement to create a joint investigation team that will strengthen the fight against human trafficking, illicit migrant smuggling, money laundering, and other organized crime offenses.
The agreement was signed by the Attorney General of the Republic, Yeni Berenice Reynoso, and the National Prosecutor of Chile, Ángel Valencia Vásquez, as part of a strategy to strengthen international legal cooperation between both public prosecutor’s offices.
This is the first agreement of its kind signed by the Dominican Republic under the auspices of the Palermo Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, adopted by the United Nations (UN) in the year 2000.
The court prosecutor Yoanna Bejarán Álvarez, head of the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office against Illicit Trafficking of Migrants and Human Trafficking (PETT), and the metropolitan regional prosecutor for the North Central region of Chile, Francisco Jacir Manterola, also signed the document.
During the event, held at the headquarters of the Attorney General’s Office, Reynoso highlighted that human trafficking and smuggling constitute a priority within the policy of prosecuting transnational organized crime.
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He explained that the Public Prosecutor’s Office works in a coordinated manner with institutions such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the General Directorate of Migration, the National Intelligence Directorate, and the Ministry of Defense to confront these types of crimes.
Likewise, he reported that prosecutors from both countries were already coordinating on investigations prior to the signing of the agreement, within the framework of the Palermo Convention, which allowed for the strengthening of international cooperation mechanisms.
The prosecutor recalled that human trafficking is considered a form of “modern slavery” and one of the most serious violations of human dignity. She added that these cases are often linked to money laundering, as criminal organizations seek to introduce illicitly obtained resources into the formal economy.
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Reynoso pointed out that the goal of the agreement is not only to achieve judicial convictions against those responsible, but also to guarantee the protection of the victims and strengthen investigations to dismantle these criminal networks.
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For his part, the National Prosecutor of Chile, Ángel Valencia Vásquez, stated that the agreement will allow for the integration of investigative teams made up of prosecutors and police forces from both nations to confront transnational crimes in a coordinated manner.
He indicated that human trafficking and the illicit smuggling of migrants affect both Chile and the Dominican Republic, so the exchange of information, experiences, and strategies will contribute to strengthening criminal prosecution and offering higher levels of security to the citizenry.
The agreement will have an initial term of one year and contemplates the exchange of information, the joint collection of evidence, and the coordination of investigations regarding human trafficking, migrant smuggling, money laundering, economic crimes, and corruption.
Furthermore, it establishes mechanisms to identify those responsible, bring them to justice, seize assets obtained through illicit activities, and guarantee the protection of the life and integrity of migrants who are victims of these criminal networks.
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The event was attended by Deputy Prosecutors Wilson Camacho and Osvaldo Bonilla; the Vice Minister of Multilateral Foreign Policy, Rubén Silié; the Ambassador of Chile to the country, Iván Favereau; the National Director of Intelligence, Luis Soto; the Director General of Migration, Vice Admiral Luis Rafael Lee Ballester; as well as representatives of the Public Prosecutor’s Office from both countries.
