FBIS4-56982 "drlat091_s_94001"
FBIS-LAT-94-091 Daily Report 29 Apr 1994
Uruguay

Article Examines Organized Crime, Drug Trafficking

Article Examines Organized Crime, Drug 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 like those in Brazil, Bolivia, and Colombia. In these countries, drug traffickers control entire neighborhoods, as well as entire lines of production 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 repressing 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 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. At the beginning of March, it was estimated that the situation was extremely serious and out of control. 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 being involved 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.