The Perry Center wraps up its Spring 2015 specialized courses after two weeks of intense academic discussion. The two courses, Combatting Transnational Organized Crime and Illicit Networks in the Americas (CTOC) and Strategic Implications of Human Rights and the Rule of Law (HR/ROL) began on May 11 with nearly 75 student representatives from 18 countries in the Western Hemisphere. The CTOC course included a visit to the US Congress on May 21 to hear course director Professor Celina Realuyo give testimony to the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services.

DASD Rebecca Bill Chavez addresses the new Perry Center graduates

Students also enjoyed a farewell dinner on Thursday evening. BOG spokesman Colonel Raul Mora of the Dominican Republic spoke of the benefit of having students with many diverse backgrounds in the course to share their experiences on organized crime and money laundering. HR/ROL student Jorge Arias Garrido from Chile said that, despite the numerous challenges of corruption and rule of law in the Americas, he was optimistic that events like the two Perry Center courses bring participants together to share internal doctrines and to develop transnational strategies to combat the problems.

The courses are structured to provide a dynamic academic environment. Students attend presentations from subject matter experts on important issues, then break into smaller discussion groups for a detailed examination and debate of the material. Both courses offered nearly two dozen lectures in just 10 days. In the CTOC course, participants were also required to present student investigation of a topic of their choice. In addition to the visit to the US Congress, the courses also involved stops at the Organization of American States, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, and the Holocaust Museum.