Dominican President Urges Joint Americas Police Action on Transnational Crime and Signs Gambling Council Appointments
Dominican President Luis Abinader opened the 16th Ordinary Summit of the Community of Police Forces of the Americas (AMERIPOL) in Santo Domingo on November 11, calling on police forces to share more intelligence and act jointly so that transnational criminal organisations find refuge in no country. The summit runs for two days, November 11 and 12.
The Presidency said the summit brings together AMERIPOL's 39 member police institutions, delegations from the Americas, Europe, Australia and the Republic of Korea, and representatives of INTERPOL, the Organization of American States (OAS), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). Delegates are addressing drug trafficking, synthetic drugs, arms smuggling, human trafficking, migrant smuggling and criminal groups' use of digital platforms. The summit will also elect AMERIPOL's presidency for 2027-2028.
At the opening, AMERIPOL Executive Secretary Marcelo Araya Zapata, Director General of Carabineros de Chile, presented Abinader with the organisation's Grand Extraordinary Order in recognition of his commitment to citizen security and international police cooperation. Interior and Police Minister Faride Raful and National Police Director General Ernesto Rodríguez García also received the order. Raful announced that the Chamber of Deputies has scheduled ratification of the Treaty of Brasilia, which will give AMERIPOL its own legal personality.
Abinader said the Dominican Republic has run a joint task force meeting weekly against crime since 2023, and that without citizen security there is no economic development.
The same day, the Presidency published Decree 810-26. Abinader appointed Julio César Castaños Guzmán, José Julio Antonio de la Altagracia Cross Frías and José Delio Ares Guzmán as members of the Gambling Council. The council is the rule-making and supervisory authority over the General Directorate of Gambling (DGJA), and its three members are appointed directly by the president under Article 9, paragraph 8, of Law 86-26, promulgated on September 22, 2026. The decree was sent to the Ministry of Finance and Economy and to the DGJA for implementation.
A day earlier, on November 10, Abinader also addressed the situation in Haiti. He said the Dominican Republic supports Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele's anti-gang operations in Haiti, that the two countries cooperate on logistics and intelligence, and that Salvadoran Defence Minister René Francis Merino Monroy speaks almost daily with his Dominican counterpart, Carlos Antonio Fernández Onofre. He confirmed that vigilance on the border with Haiti has been reinforced, with armoured vehicles, drones and trained personnel in place.
(Source: Presidency of the Dominican Republic)
Source: Presidency of the Dominican Republic
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于 Santo Domingo 的多米尼加共和国国家宫（Palacio Nacional），总统府所在地。照片：Mariordo（Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz），CC BY-SA 4.0，经维基共享资源。 / Photo: The National Palace in Santo Domingo, seat of the Presidency of the Dominican Republic. Photo by Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
