Chile Prosecutor: Target Financial Structures to Fight Organized Crime

Chilean National Prosecutor Ángel Valencia has asserted that effectively combating organized crime requires a strategic focus on dismantling its financial underpinnings, rather than solely concentrating on apprehending street-level operatives.

Speaking at an international seminar in Valencia on "Towards a Regional Strategy for the Recovery of Illicit Assets," Valencia stressed that simply imprisoning the lowest ranks of criminal organizations is insufficient. "To dismantle criminal organizations, we cannot be content with sending their lowest layer to jail, or even just sending people to jail," he stated. "It is necessary to attack their financial structures, recover their assets, attack their property."

The prosecutor elaborated on the evolving nature of financial crime, noting a shift from traditional assets to digital ones. "In the modern economy, we no longer just pursue cash, we no longer pursue assets like in the 90s, when we were worried about high-end cars, trucks, plots of land," Valencia explained. "Today, we are pursuing crypto-assets, today we are pursuing money, money flows that circulate through the digital economy."

This perspective was echoed by Eduardo Cerna, Director General of the Investigations Police (PDI), who highlighted the seminar's focus on international cooperation. A working group involving delegates from 22 countries aims to enhance coordination and joint efforts, particularly through Interpol's "Silver Diffusion" project, which focuses on tracing illicit capital to disrupt criminal structures. The seminar, part of the European Union's Pact 2.0 program, also included government officials like the Minister of Public Security, Martín Arrau, and the Minister of the Interior, Claudio Alvarado.