STUDY VISIT OF THE XXXVIII ADVANCED TRAINING COURSE TO SOUTH AMERICA

The delegation of the XXXVIII Advanced Training Course has been warmly welcomed and assisted with particular attention during the study visit made from 12 to 22 March 2023 to South America, in particular Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. This visit, which  was organized at the  end of the first session of exams, was aimed at getting a direct and exhaustive knowledge of the  complex reality of South America, a region of strategic interest for the Public Security Department. It represented an opportunity to establish relations, both at central and operational level,  with all the four Argentinean  Police Forces as well as with national Police Forces of Uruguay and Paraguay.  The Italian Ambassadors in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, Fabrizio LUCENTINI and Giovanni Battista IANNUZZI, respectively, offered further opportunities to hold meetings, attended by many judicial authorities of the two mentioned countries, and to  exchange  mutual expertise.

The Italian delegation, headed by the Director of the Scuola di Perfezionamento per le Forze di Polizia, Carabinieri Corps Major General Giuseppe La Gala and by the Italian National Police Dirigente Superiore Rosaria D’Errico, constantly and proactively assisted by the security expert, Carabinieri Corps Major Marco Di Maggio, met in Buenos Aires the National Naval Prefect Mario Fabion, the Director of the Federal Police International Cooperation Marcelo Daniel El Haibe, the Secretary General of the Gendarmería, Antonio José del Pilar Bogado, the Chief of Staff of the Airport Security, José Alejandro Glins.

The Italian delegation was welcomed in the remarkable venue of the Police Academy in  Montevideo by the Director General of Uruguayan Police,  José Manuel Azambuya. This meeting dealt with the complex and tangled criminal relations among the main  drug trafficking cartels at global level, such as for example the ‘ndgrangheta and the Brazilian Primero Comando, which have common interests in the whole area of South America.  

In this context, the visit to the so-called Tripla Frontera, on the borders with Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil,  was particularly important. In this area, a Trilateral Steering Committee, made up of  the Police Forces of the three countries,  carries out its activity in an environment  characterized by the immensity and impenetrability of nature at the confluence of the rivers Iguazú and Paraná. Each Police Force of these three countries is  in charge of the Committee on a rotation basis.    The direct and openhearted meetings with men and women engaged in the difficult fight against the drug-traffickers and the concrete perception of the environmental, social and cultural difficulties they have to face every day represented  an excellent opportunity for the Senior Police Officers/Officials of the four Italian Police Forces as well as for those of Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Albania and Slovakia, who are currently attending the Advanced Training Course together with their Italian colleagues,  to achieve a professional and human growth.