President Leonel Fernandez proposed at the 2nd Regional Meeting on Drug Control Cooperation and Coordination in the Caribbean, held in Santo Domingo 8-9 December 1997, that Latin America and the Caribbean sign extradition treaties and treaties for the exchange of banking information for cases where drug trafficking is suspect. The President feels this would be a way of avoiding that the countries of the region become sanctuaries of drug dealers seeking refuge. He said this would avoid that delinquents who commit criminal acts in one place pretend to hide in other territories simply because there are no extradition agreements. He favored the existence of a common legislation for the confiscation of goods product of drug trafficking.The Dominican government also announced that it will create a mixed brigade of officers of the Police and Armed Forces specialized in drug control to patrol the Dominican frontier with Haiti so the area does not become a bridge to be used by Haitian drug traffickers.Pino Arlacchi, director of the United Nations Office for the Control and Prevention of Drug Trafficking, announced the organization will open an office in Santo Domingo that will serve as headquarters for efforts to improve regional cooperation.The conference is held under the auspices of the United Nations Program for the International Control of Drugs. Participating are delegates from Argentina, Antigua, Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Virgin Islands, Turks & Caicos, Trinidad & Tobago, Surinam, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, Puerto Rico, Netherlands Antilles, Montserrat, Martinique, Jamaica, Haiti, Guyana, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Dominica, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Belize and Bermuda.
