Drugs And Security In The Caribbean

Examines Caribbean countries' impact on the U. S. and the world and how they have consolidated their democracies, advanced prosperity, and maintained peace through collective security and international cooperation.

Contents: (1) An Overview of Illicit Drugs in Latin America and the Caribbean (LA&C): Drug Traffickers and Related Criminal-Terrorist Actors; (2) U.S. Antidrug Assistance Programs in LA&C: Plan Colombia: Mérida Initiative for Mexico and Central America: U.S. Assistance to Mexico Beyond Mérida; Central American Regional Security Initiative; Caribbean Basin Security Initiative; DoD Counternarcotics Assistance Programs; (3) Foreign Assistance Prohibitions and Conditions: Annual Drug Certification Process; Conditions on Counternarcotics Assistance: Human Rights Prohibitions on Assistance to Security Forces; Country-Specific Prohibitions on Certain Counterdrug Assistance; Drug Eradication-Related Conditions; (4) Issues for Congress. Illus.

Volume 1 outlines the nature and structures of illicit drug trafficking in the Caribbean. It discusses the escalating levels of social violence, crime and grinding poverty all linked to the illicit drug trade.

The drug trade. Crime. Terrorism. Cyber threats. In the Caribbean, these cross-border Problems Without Passports (PWPs) have shaken the very foundation of nation states. Blending case studies with regional analysis, Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith examines the regionwide impact of PWPs and the complex security and sovereignty issues in play. The interaction of local and global forces within PWPs undermines the governments’ basic goal of protecting their people against military threats, subversion, and the erosion of political, economic, and social values. Seeking solutions to these multidimensional threats requires addressing both traditional and non-traditional security and sovereignty issues. Griffith focuses on clashes between PWPs and the state from warring drug gangs in Jamaica, to Trinidad and Tobago’s one-time status as a center for terrorism-related activities, to the political resurgence of drug trafficker Desi Bouterse in Suriname, and the growing cyber threats across the region. Informed and up to date, Challenged Sovereignty explains the effects of today’s globalized problems on the contemporary Caribbean.

The Caribbean poses a significant drugs problem for the UK and the US, as the recent phenomenon of yardie gangs in British cities graphically illustrates. But in the islands themselves ganja, crack cocaine and the policies to control them have become, as this book demonstrates, a veritable social disaster. The authors, who are among the leading local researchers and engaged professionals in the region as well as the former regional head of the UN Drugs Control Programme, bring together new research investigations, insightful policy analysis and practical experience of on-the-ground interventions putting demand reduction into practice. The dimensions of the illicit drugs market in the Caribbean are made clear. The origins of the problem lie in part, it is argued, with the impact of neoliberal economic policies that have opened up the region's borders and gravely undermined its traditional sources of employment and exports, like bananas and sugar. The islands, in part under external US pressure, have adopted a region-wide policy of criminalization This has involved the creation of specialized drug courts and serious human and social consequences as a result of criminalizing traditional cultural practices around ganja consumption. Fascinating light is thrown on the difficulties facing drug abuse and rehabilitation centres and the dilemmas they throw up. Harm reduction as a fundamentally alternative approach to the drugs problem is also explored. This is the first book to examine the experiences of Caribbean countries since they adopted a coordinated approach to the drugs problem. There are valuable lessons to be learned at both policy and practical levels for other countries, and in particular those like the UK and US with large Caribbean populations.

Drug trafficking is viewed as a primary threat to citizen security and U.S. interests in Latin America and the Caribbean despite decades of anti-drug efforts by the United States and partner governments. The production and trafficking of popular illicit drugs--cocaine, marijuana, opiates, and methamphetamine--generates a multi-billion dollar black market in which Latin American criminal and terrorist organizations thrive. These groups challenge state authority in source and transit countries where governments are often fragile and easily corrupted. Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) largely control the U.S. illicit drug market and have been identified by the U.S. Department of Justice as the 'greatest organized crime threat to the United States.' Drug trafficking-related crime and violence in the region has escalated in recent years, raising the drug issue to the forefront of U.S. foreign policy concerns. Since the mid-1970s, the U.S. government has invested billions of dollars in anti-drug assistance programs aimed at reducing the flow of Latin American-sourced illicit drugs to the United States. Most of these programs have emphasized supply reduction tools, particularly drug crop eradication and interdiction of illicit narcotics, and have been designed on a bilateral or subregional level. Many would argue that the results of U.S.-led drug control efforts have been mixed. Temporary successes in one country or sub-region have often led traffickers to alter their cultivation patterns, production techniques, and trafficking routes and methods in order to avoid detection. As a result of this so-called 'balloon effect, ' efforts have done little to reduce the overall availability of illicit drugs in the United States. In addition, some observers assert that certain mainstays of U.S.-funded counterdrug programs, particularly aerial spraying to eradicate drug crops, have had unintended social and economic consequences. The Obama Administration has continued U.S. support for Plan Colombia and the Mérida Initiative, but is gradually broadening the focus of those aid packages to address the societal and institutional effects of the drug trade and related criminality and violence, rather than mainly funding supply control efforts. Newer programs like the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) include more of an emphasis on rule of law, anti-corruption, and community and youth development programs. In order to complement these international efforts, President Obama and his top advisers have acknowledged the role that U.S. drug demand has played in fueling the drug trade in the region and requested increased funding for prevention and treatment programs. The 111th Congress has influenced U.S. drug control policy in Latin America by appropriating certain types and levels of funding for counterdrug assistance programs in P.L. 111-8, P.L. 111-32, and P.L. 111-117. Congress has also conditioned the provision of antidrug funding on the basis of human rights and other reporting requirements. It has sought to ensure that counterdrug programs are implemented in tandem with judicial reform, anti-corruption, and human rights programs. Several bills address counternarcotics issues in the region, including House-passed H.R. 2410 (Berman), House-passed H.R. 2134 (Engel) and S. 3172 (Menendez). Congress has been active in evaluating drug assistance programs through multiple oversight hearings. This report provides an overview of the drug flows in the Americas and U.S. antidrug assistance programs in the region. It also raises some policy issues for Congress to consider as it exercises oversight of U.S. antidrug programs and policies in the Western Hemisphere. For more information, see CRS Report RL34543, International Drug Control Policy, by Liana Sun Wyler, CRS Report RL32250, Colombia: Issues for Congress; and CRS Report R40135, Mérida Initiative for Mexico and Central America: Funding and Policy Issues.