State's Negroponte Targets Illegal Drugs on Central American Trip

By Eric Green

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte's June 3-6 trip to Central America focused attention on a U.S. proposal to fight drug trafficking and organized crime in Mexico and the nations of Central America.

Negroponte told reporters June 6 in Guatemala that these countries will play an active part in the anti-drug plan called the Mérida Initiative. The plan aims to help Mexico and Central America combat narcotrafficking, transnational youth crime and terrorism.

Regarding Guatemala, Negroponte said the country's "pervasive impunity" (failure to punish criminal acts) and institutional weaknesses are the Central American nation's main obstacles to fighting organized crime and drug trafficking effectively.

During his trip, the deputy secretary discussed the Mérida Initiative and other issues with Central American government officials and representatives of the region's private sector and civil society.

Negroponte said June 2 at a meeting of inter-American officials in Colombia before going to Central America that the United States strongly backs the region's leaders who are "confronting gangs, organized crime, and drug lords." (See "Western Hemisphere Meeting Showcases Progress in Colombia ( http://www.america.gov/st/democracy-english/2008/June/200806091645151xeneerg0.76318.html?CP.rss=true ).")

Negroponte said that when Central America's leaders "proposed a broad agenda for cooperation against criminals and drug traffickers in Central America and Mexico, the United States readily endorsed it."

With full funding, said Negroponte, the Mérida Initiative will provide "substantial support over several years to train and equip Mexican and Central American law enforcement. We are committed to this initiative because no country in the hemisphere can be safe from organized crime, gangs, and narco-terrorism unless we are all safe."

"NATIONAL EMERGENCY REQUIRING AN URGENT RESPONSE"

Thomas Shannon, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, who accompanied Negroponte on his Central American trip, told reporters in Guatemala of the region's special vulnerability to criminals and narcotraffickers. It is located between Colombia, the world's leading producer and distributor of cocaine and a significant supplier of heroin, and Mexico, a transshipment point for illegal drugs into the United States.

Shannon said in May 8 congressional testimony that drug trafficking and criminal organizations in Central America have grown in size and strength over the last decade, with a regionwide surge in crime and violence and the emergence of youth gangs. (See "U.S.-Central American Cooperation Focuses on Fighting Gangs ( http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2007/July/200707241205091xeneerg0.4201471.html ).")

Central American leaders and public opinion, especially in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, have characterized this situation as a "national emergency requiring an urgent response," said Shannon.

U.S. officials estimate that 70 percent of the illegal drugs that enter the United States pass through Central America.

The State Department said in an April 8 fact sheet that the Mérida Initiative would provide in the U.S. fiscal year 2009 budget $450 million for Mexico and $100 million for Central America.

"It is in the national security interest of the United States to support our partners' fight" in Central America and Mexico against transnational criminal groups, the fact sheet said.

The Bush administration's plan calls for $1.4 billion over three years for Mexico and a smaller, unspecified amount for Central America in that time period. (See "Merida Initiative Takes Aim at Transnational Crime ( http://www.america.gov/st/peacesec-english/2008/May/20080508174708idybeekcm6.284732e-02.html ).")

MERIDA PLAN CALLED "FIRST BIG EFFORT" TO FIGHT DRUGS, CRIMINALS

Ray Walser, senior policy analyst for Latin America at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, calls the Mérida Initiative the "first big effort" by the United States to deal with the drug trafficking and gang problem in Mexico and Central America.

Walser told America.gov that Congress previously passed "piecemeal legislation" that created small programs to deal with the regional drug problem.

The initiative, said Walser, organizes a regional effort through the Central American Integration System (SICA) to spend more money on the anti-gang project "than we have before." SICA was established in 1991 to develop common policies and strategies for Central America.

The House of Representatives passed a version of implementing legislation for the Mérida Initiative on June 10. That bill now must be reconciled with a version previously passed by the Senate. Walser said the two versions have different funding amounts and different conditions on how the money would be used.

Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told America.gov that Congress wants to expand the Mérida Plan to include Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Selee said in a May overview of the initiative that the plan is "actually more than an assistance package - rather it is one element in a broader strategy of growing cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico to address a shared threat presented by organized crime involved in drug trafficking."

Both the United States and Mexico "recognize the need to engage Central America in broader regional efforts," Selee said.

Source: U.S. Department of State

judythpiazza@newsblaze.com

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