UN highlights Mexico’s international leadership in anti-drug fight

“Mexico stands out in international anti-drug policies and received the recognition of the United States for its fight against drug trafficking”, said the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) during a UN meeting in Vienna, Austria, last month.

The Deputy Attorney General for International Affairs of the PGR, Alberto Elías Beltrán, led the delegation of Mexico in the 61 Period of Sessions of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), which was held in the Austrian capital and was presided by Mexico.

In a telephone interview from Vienna, Beltrán highlighted the “leadership” of Mexico at the present time, and how our country presides the Inter-American Commission for the Control of the Drug Abuse of the OAS.

“It is very important that Mexico presides this narcotics commission of the United Nations” said Beltrán.

During the assembly, held in the host city of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Mexico received praise from the Acting Undersecretary of the Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) of the United States, Jim Walsh.

“I have been working with Mexico for many years and I have never seen a better collaboration (…) The government of the United States is very satisfied,” Walsh said at a press conference in Vienna.

Beltrán indicated that “there have been several meetings held by Mexican and American authorities to fight transnational criminal organizations in the area, and good results hae been obtained from this joint effort”.

At the meeting, Mexico presented its approach on drugs, how the government has to deal with the issue as a public health problem “without criminalizing the consumer.”

“It is a fundamental issue that Mexico has raised, but that does not mean that we are not fighting in a frontal and intelligent way against the criminal organizations dedicated to drug trafficking,” said Beltrán.

The deputy prosecutor met during his work tour in Austria with the executive director of UNODC, the Russian diplomat Yury Fedotov, as well as other senior officials of this agency.

“We talked about different programs, the monitoring of illicit crops, as well as the issue of human trafficking by land, sea and air,” said the Mexican official, also highlighting prevention initiatives, in particular the “Repensar Program“.

“We will also work on strengthening regional and institutional capabilities with programs to combat organized crime, cybercrime, illicit human trafficking, corruption, money laundering and asset recovery, which will allow us to bolster our institutions,” Alberto Elías Beltrán concluded.

Source: 24-horas.mx