Allegations of securities fraud and money laundering, in recent days placed Belize on the international headlines. Tonight, the issue of drug trafficking is attracting negative attention for the country. On Monday, by presidential determination, Belize was named again by the US as a major drug transit country. Other Caribbean countries such as Jamaica, Haiti and the Bahamas also made it on the list as did most of Central America and Mexico. The designation, says the US memo, primarily has to do with the transit of illicit cargo to the United States. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
Belize’s geographic position within the Central American corridor has long since made it an ideal location for the transshipment of illicit cargo to the United States and Canada. The movement of wholesale consignments of cocaine and marijuana from Latin American countries as far south as Colombia and Bolivia, has seen a significant increase in narco-trafficking activity within the region. While the U.S. government continues its efforts to stem the illegal flow of drugs to the north, the constant stream has proven difficult to curb. Despite all efforts to restrict the progress of drugs in that direction, Costa Rica, Belize and The Bahamas have been placed on a list of Central American and Caribbean nations that are part of a major drug transit course, along with Colombia and Bolivia as key drug producing countries.
This designation, though not necessarily a reflection of government’s efforts in the war on drugs, was disclosed in a memorandum for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on September fifteenth. U.S. law enforcement agencies estimate that about eighty-four percent of the cocaine entering the United States transit through Central America and Mexico to reach stateside destinations. While it comes as no surprise that Belize has been registered, so too are other mainland countries, including Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico. Based on a decline in maritime interdiction assets and weakened intelligence, there has been a decline in the awareness of cocaine shipments. Island nations such as Jamaica, Haiti and The Bahamas are equally listed based on an order of geographic, commercial and economic factors. These features, according to the White House press release, allow for drugs to be produced or shipped to their destinations within North America, even if a government has executed the most diligent measures of drug enforcement.
In Belize, since the beginning of the year, there have been a number of anti-drug operations comprised of local law enforcement agencies, with assistance from U.S. authorities. Those efforts, outside of work being done by the United States Southern Command, have been centered primarily around the destruction of marijuana fields in rural areas. While the International Framework for Narcotics and Crime Control outlines the various issues pertaining to drugs and drug trafficking, it concedes that a total cooperation among all named countries remains the cornerstone for mitigating the dangers posed by the illegal narcotics trade and related crimes carried out by criminal organizations.
The complex and efficient operations of criminal organizations, including those in Mexico, challenge law enforcement officials and policymakers all over, in spite of successive U.N. Conventions on narcotics and crime control. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
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