FBIS4-67072
"jptdd020__l94056"
JPRS-TDD-94-020-L
JPRS
Narcotics
29 April 1994
LATIN AMERICA
URUGUAY
Article Examines Organized Crime, Narcotics Trafficking
Article Examines Organized Crime, Narcotics Trafficking
PY0705020494 Montevideo BRECHA in Spanish 29 Apr 94 pp 3-4
PY0705020494
Montevideo BRECHA
Spanish
BFN
[Article by Samuel Blixen]
[Excerpts] Approximately a month ago, the interior minister
installed an Anti-Mafia Unit to try--through intelligence
work--to break up the connection between police officers and
Uruguayan criminal organizations. These organizations are part
of international mafia networks dedicated to white slave trading
and drug trafficking.
The classified information being handled by the Interior
Ministry reveals that mafia infiltration into various domestic
circles has affected an alarming number of middle- and
high-ranking police officers.
There are numerous indications that organizations dedicated
to the white slave trade and drug trafficking have developed
support structures at the neighborhood level and in sports and
recreational organizations.
But these mafias have not enrolled only police officers.
Police, congressional, and judicial documents indicate that the
mafias have also ensured the complicity of sports entrepreneurs,
professional sportsmen, and people in the entertainment
business. The reports even included the name of one deputy.
The evidence of the degree of development and impunity of
these criminal organizations with international connections has
alarmed people at the highest levels. It is believed that these
mafias are trying to create social support bases such as those
in Brazil, Bolivia, and Colombia. In these countries drug
traffickers control entire neighborhoods, as well as entire
lines of productive activities.
National mafias combine violence, coercion, and corruption
to
protect an impunity system that has been characterized as
"shameless."
In this respect, the "total inefficiency" of the police
organizations responsible for the repression of the white slave
trade in trying to stem the constant "export of prostitutes" is
considered a key factor in the growing power garnered by
Uruguayan mafias.
Some legislators think that the absolute impunity enjoyed by
"pimps and dealers" ["fiolos"], their intermediaries, and
contacts with organizations managing the international criminal
trade constitutes a threat to institutional powers.
The creation of the Anti-Mafia Unit is the consequence of
the
fear and concern expressed in political circles over the
increasing levels of corruption provoked by these organizations.
The considerable international economic power of these groups
is derived from criminal activity considered to be an
international "scourge."
The information collected during the investigation of some
concrete cases has confirmed that in Uruguay there is an
interaction between drug trafficking, the white slave trade, and
contraband.
BRECHA learned that the Anti-Mafia Unit has begun to process
information from various sources, and has launched an
investigation into the origin of capital that permits some
individuals to enjoy a lifestyle not in accordance with their
"official" incomes. [passage omitted]
War on Mafias
The official inability to act, the reiteration of classified
reports, and the need to face the power of the mafias has forced
the Human Rights Committee to take the initiative to coordinate
efforts in this area. It was estimated that the situation was
extremely serious and out of control at the beginning of March.
Committee members held several meetings with Interior Minister
Raul Iturria and Interior Under Secretary Juan Luis Storace to
demand an effective offensive against criminal structures and
the police protection they enjoy.
The decision to create the Anti-Mafia Unit was the result of
these closed-door meetings. There was a tacit agreement between
the ministry and the committee not to hinder the investigations,
no matter who is involved.
The unit is made up by three high-ranking officials whose
backgrounds have assured and satisfied the legislators. The
unit will be directly subordinated to the interior minister.
One high-ranking official will operate in the administrative
field, a second will be responsible for international relations,
and the third will move in the field of police intelligence.
(BRECHA will omit the names of these officials and the names of
individuals suspected of involvement in illegal activates,
witnesses, and those who denounced the illegal acts, for obvious
reasons and so as not to hinder the investigations under way.)
At first it was said that the government decision might
imply
an action similar to the "Clean Hands Operation" now under way
in Italy. That was allegedly the initial idea, but Minister
Iturria decided to keep a low profile. The minister told BRECHA
that despite the existence of elements implicating police
offices with the mafias, "it is difficult to obtain proof
through administrative investigations." Besides, the minister
intends to act cautiously "in order not to affect the entire
police institution, which is indispensable to any
administration." Officially, Minister Iturria prefers to face
the offensive against organized crime with a "reorganization"
that will place the investigation and repression of the
so-called "international crimes" under his portfolio's
jurisdiction. An expression of that reorganization is the
decision to move the intelligence, narcotics, and Interpol
departments from under the jurisdiction of the Montevideo Police
Department.
Other officials think the Interior Ministry will not be able
to destroy the mafia organizations without an in-depth attack
against police corruption. "Otherwise those involved in the
white slave trade and drug trafficking will continue to act with
impunity," a deputy told BRECHA. The deputy said he was willing
to wait a reasonable time for results before proposing other
measures.