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CENTRAL
AMERICA: Cross-Border Cartels Dig in
Their Heels
By Danilo
Valladares
GUATEMALA CITY (IPS) - Stepped-up
efforts against drug trafficking in
Colombia and Mexico are increasingly
driving drug mafias into Central
America, where drug-related corruption
and violence are on the rise.
President Álvaro Colom of Guatemala,
which borders Mexico to the south,
recently summed the problem up like
this: "When (Mexican) President (Felipe)
Calderón has a success, I have a
problem."
Referring to the increased participation
of the military in the war on drugs in
Mexico since Calderón took office, the
State Department says in its 2010
International Narcotics Strategy Report
that "As Mexico achieves further
progress against the criminal
organisations operating on its
territory…there is growing evidence that
Mexico’s drug trafficking organisations
are already establishing a presence in
these (neighbouring) regions,
particularly in some Central American
states."
The report, released Mar. 1, is not
encouraging with respect to developments
in Central America.
It says the Jun. 28 coup that ousted
then President Manuel Zelaya in Honduras
and the "corruption within the Honduran
government and its law enforcement
elements presents obstacles to
counternarcotics efforts," while in
Guatemala, "corruption and inadequate
law enforcement efforts contributed to
low interdiction levels during the past
several years."
Panama, meanwhile, is described as the
"mouth of the funnel" in the movement of
drugs from South America to the United
States. And in Nicaragua, "corruption
and political interference continue to
plague law enforcement and the
judiciary."
In El Salvador, the government "did not
make any significant advances in 2009 in
terms of improving its ability to
detect, investigate, and prosecute money
laundering and financial crime," while
Costa Rica "is an important transit
point for narcotics destined for the
United States and Europe," the report
adds.
Increasing operations in Central America
by drug trafficking organisations like
Mexico's Gulf cartel and the Zetas and
Colombia's Norte del Valle cartel have
triggered bloody turf wars in the
region.
Costa Rican Attorney General Francisco
Dall'Anese told IPS that drug
trafficking in his country - known as
"the Switzerland of Central America"
because of its strong democracy and
relatively high standard of living - has
increased to the point that "in 2009 the
Institute of Alcoholism and Drug
Dependence reported 250,000 more drug
users than in 2008.
"This means there is wider availability
of drugs in the market and that more
drugs are being consumed," he said.
Criminal organisations - local,
Colombian, Mexican, Chinese and others -
are also very active in the country, "to
judge by the large number of contract
killings that have occurred in the last
six years," he added.
Dall'Anese, who is also president of the
Central American Council of Public
Prosecutors Offices, said the fight
against organised crime must be a
regional effort because drug cartels
have gone global.
Last year, Costa Rica passed a law
against organised crime, which created
special procedural rules for cases,
allowed investigators to tap telephones
for a year, extended the maximum period
of preventive detention from 12 to 24
months, and extended the statute of
limitations to 10 years.
But in spite of efforts, the activity of
drug cartels in the region continues to
grow.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence
for Western Hemisphere Affairs Frank
Mora said in a February speech in
Washington that the drug mafias' move to
Central America, as a result of success
in the fight against drugs in Mexico and
Colombia, is his biggest "nightmare".
Professor David Martínez-Amador, who
teaches a course on "transnational
organised crime" in several universities
in Mexico and Central America, told IPS
that the heavy presence of drug
trafficking organisations is a
characteristic of countries where a
strong role for the state is virtually
absent, "as is the case in Central
America, with the exception of Costa
Rica."
Martínez-Amador compared the situation
in the region with the case of Italian
mafias like La Cosa Nostra in Sicily and
La Camorra in Naples: "They took over
society because southern Italy is
feudal, there has never been a real
state presence there."
On Mar. 5, U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton wrapped up a tour
of several Latin American countries with
a visit to Guatemala, where she met with
several Central American presidents and
senior officials to discuss the problem
of drug trafficking.
In Guatemala, she said the Barack Obama
administration "recognises and accepts
its share of responsibility for the
problems posed by drug trafficking in
this region" and added that U.S. demand
for narcotics was "one of the reasons
why we feel so strongly about trying to
help countries like Guatemala fight this
terrible criminal scourge" that is
largely responsible for the high levels
of corruption.
On Mar. 17, the executive director of
the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC), Antonio María Costa, and
President Colom signed a cooperation
agreement to open a centre of excellence
on organised crime in Guatemala City.
UNODC will also provide 16 million
dollars to carry out a three-year
integrated advocacy programme in
Guatemala aimed at strengthening the
justice system, reform the police and
prisons, and fight corruption and human
trafficking.
"Corruption, poverty and a poor criminal
justice capacity make Guatemala
extremely vulnerable to organised
crime," said Costa, who also announced
that UNODC would open a regional Central
American office in this country.
In the latest sign of how deep drug
corruption runs in Guatemala, the
national police chief Baltazar Gómez and
anti-drug chief Nelly Bonilla were
arrested early this month for forming
part of a drug trafficking ring.
Marco Antonio Canteo at the Guatemalan
Institute of Comparative Studies in
Penal Sciences (ICCPG) told IPS that
incidents like this one, in which the
Zetas were involved, confirm to what
extent international drug cartels have
penetrated the Guatemalan state.
He also expressed his concern that drug
consumption, and not just trafficking,
is also on the rise in Guatemala.
Rodolfo Dougherty, vice chair of the
Central American Parliament's political
commission, told IPS that "a greater
effort from the United States (the
world's biggest market for drugs) would
be important to keep drugs from coming
into this region."
The Guatemalan legislator said the
incursion of international drug cartels
in the region is alarming, and the
situation is getting worse because
governments do not have the capacity to
fight them. |
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