Modernization

In the city of Quito, Ecuador, since April 8, the “Seminar on Intelligence, Research and International Cooperation in the Maritime Domain” has been taking place, an event organized and coordinated by the Seaport Cooperation Project (SEACOP), which will have its last activities and official closing on April 11.

The Seminar is part of one of the many activities frequently carried out by the aforementioned project, headed by one of its coordinators, the Inspector of the National Police of Spain, Alfredo Díaz Sánchez, counting, on this occasion, with the participation as speaker by Prefect Martin Zampa, member of the Directorate of Criminal Intelligence and Investigations of the Argentine Naval Prefecture.

The SEACOP Project, financed by the European Union, is currently in its Phase VI, maintaining as part of its main objective, creating capabilities in the different members of the Maritime Intelligence Units (MIU, according to its acronym in English), countering the related criminal networks in West Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe and reinforce international cooperation in the fight against illicit maritime trafficking, adding, in this new stage of work, the fight against environmental crime.

In this context, SEACOP, considering the strategic importance of Ecuador as an exit point for drugs to Europe, due to its ports considered strategic by Criminal Organizations, organized an international seminar in said country focused mainly on strengthening the obtaining of intelligence in the maritime context, marinas and container shipping ports with a clear focus on International Cooperation.

Under this theme, this four-day meeting is held between the various actors involved in the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, its objective being to establish a comprehensive strategy at the regional level that allows the implementation of joint international operations.

For this reason, within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of National Security and SEACOP, at the request of the aforementioned project, Prefect Martin Rubén Zampa, member of the Directorate, was designated to participate as an exhibitor in the aforementioned event. of Criminal Intelligence and Investigations of the Argentine Naval Prefecture, for the purposes of exposing the institutional strategy to confront drug trafficking, in the context of information exchange, international cooperation and good practices developed at the regional level.

Likewise, as part of the activities proposed by SEACOP, on April 10, the professionals who make up the Network of Anti-Drug Prosecutors of Ibero-America, including a representative of PROCUNAR, presented via zoom platform, about the international approach to persecution and challenges and tools of international cooperation. In this sense, they emphasized the importance of these themes, in order to establish an international legal strategy design that works through the Internet. This activity also had the virtual participation of members of the Brazilian Federal Police, Argentine Federal Police , and the Joint Maritime and River Intelligence and Control Units (UnICCoMF) as well as the Maritime Intelligence Division, the latter as representatives of the Argentine Naval Prefecture.

In this way, the Institution promotes and strengthens the exchange of information, International Cooperation and good practices developed at the regional level in the fight against Transnational Organized Crime, a common denominator of the countries that are part of the SEACOP Project.

Buenos Aires – At the headquarters of the General Staff of the Navy, from the facilities of the Argentine Local Operational Control Command, the International Naval Maritime Traffic Control Officer Course began this Monday, which is taught annually, under virtual mode.

On this occasion, 51 Navy officers from 11 countries on the American continent participate: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru.

This theoretical-practical course focuses on the current concepts and procedures of Naval Maritime Traffic Control (CNTM), which are used to conduct operations to protect maritime traffic and its security in times of crisis; and consolidates knowledge of maritime safety and relationships between the different institutions dedicated to the sea.

The course is within the provisions established in the Coordination Plan for the Defense of Inter-American Maritime Traffic, made up of almost all of the Navies of the American continent.

This plan provides for the delivery of Naval Maritime Traffic Control courses that enable standardized instruction for personnel serving in the signatory Navies. At the regional international level they are dictated only by the Navies of Argentina, Brazil and Chile.

For two weeks, personnel are instructed in the application of the CNTM Inter-American Tactical Procedures, which include the guidance, support and defense of maritime traffic; the law of the sea applied to them; and the understanding of the merchant shipping and fishing world, among other topics.

The graduate receives the appropriate tools necessary to provide advice either from land or at sea, acting as an interface between the maritime community and the naval force that must provide protection and defense to maritime traffic, navigating within the SAR jurisdiction ( search and rescue) of a coastal State, if it were threatened at the regional level.

Once the requirements are approved, upon graduation the students are trained and qualified as Naval Maritime Traffic Control Officers.

The Progresar scholarships aim to accompany young people to finish compulsory education, study at a higher level or train professionally.

The age requirements to access vary depending on the scholarship line. To Progress Mandatory, students must be between 16 and 24 years old. For Higher Progress, between 17 and 24 or up to 30 if they are advanced in their career (for Nursing there is no age limit). Those who apply to Progresar Trabajo must be between 18 and 24 years old, expanding to 40 for those who do not have a formal registered job. In all lines, applicants up to 35 years of age can register if they have dependent children under 18 and belong to single-parent households.

On the other hand, the income of the applicants’ family group must not exceed three times the Minimum Living and Mobile Wage in force in Argentina. They must also prove regular attendance at an educational institution and comply with the academic progress requested by each line. Recipients of the Progresar scholarship will receive 12 monthly installments that will total $240,000.

In it mandatory level The trajectory must not be interrupted. Class attendance will be monitored in 3 annual certifications; A negative attendance record could mean suspension of the scholarship.

In addition, students must take a mandatory vocational and work orientation course. It will last two months and will be organized in self-assisted modules. The receipt of the scholarship will be subject to its completion.

Regarding scholarships Upper level For advanced students, the minimum requirement of 2 subjects passed from the previous year will be changed to the requirement of 50% of subjects passed from the previous year. But there will be a distinction between those who had a scholarship in 2023 and those who apply for it for the first time. Those who had a scholarship in 2023 and do not reach 50% of approved subjects according to that year’s study plan, will be able to apply to the program. However, if they are awarded, they will receive the transition fee established for 2024, which will be 80% of the monthly amount of the scholarship. Those who want to access the scholarship for the first time must meet the requirement of 50% of approved subjects of the study plan taken in 2023 and—if awarded—they will receive 100% of the monthly amount of the scholarship.

Progresar aims to reinforce individual responsibility and empowerment through education. It seeks to enhance the relational capital of scholarship recipients, bring the work universe closer to the educational universe, and promote innovation for the development of the country from a comprehensive perspective.

Those who wish to register can do so on the Progresar website:

The capture of the two individuals was carried out by detectives from the Organized Robbery Investigation division and the Homicide division of the PFA, who carried out numerous investigations to find their whereabouts. It should be noted that in the previous hours, another fugitive from crime in the city of San Pedro, Axel Emiliano Rojas, alias “Pelusa”, 20 years old, had already been arrested.

The two arrested this afternoon are brothers: Miguel Pastor Romero Molinas, alias “Patoto”, of Argentine nationality and 20 years of age, with a record registered in the province of Buenos Aires for crimes against property, and Guillermo Romero Molinas, alias “Paraguayo.” , 17 years old. Both were hidden in a precarious home located on a vacant lot, located in the Buenos Aires town of Marcos Paz.

With this action, those responsible for the murder were identified, since the other suspect, Patricio Valentín García, 22, was arrested last Monday.

The Functional Instruction and Trial Unit No. 18 of the judicial department of Lomas de Zamora, led by Dr. Pablo Rossi, intervenes.