The Week in Review - Latin America Share This /

This week U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) began engagement exercises in Central America and the Caribbean, Southcom's commander was given an award for his collaboration with the Honduran military and Peru stopped eradicating coca in the country's largest cocaine-producing region. Read these stories and other highlights from the region this week below.

• Eleven Caribbean nations deployed maritime, national police, and coast guard units to Antigua and Barbuda to participate with Canadian and U.S. forces in a joint and combined exercise, known as Tradewinds,which is designed to build military maritime security and abilities. This year's exercise has two main phases: Phase I will last through June 10 and focus on maritime security and Phase II will take place in the Dominican Republic from June 16-25 and focus on land security with 16 partner nations. The exercise supports the maritime component of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, the State Department’s main security package to the region.
• Members of the U.S. military deployed to Belize for Southern Partnership Station 2014, a U.S. Navy initiative centered on expert exchanges with militaries and security forces throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. The units will remain in Belize working with the Belize Defense Force "until later this year," when they will go to Guatemala to continue the security subject exchanges.
• On Tuesday U.S. Southern Command head General John Kelly and U.S. Ambassador to Honduras Lisa Kubiske met with President Juan Orlando Hernández and the country's National Security Council to discuss increased security cooperation in the fight against transnational organized crime. While there General Kelly received an award for his collaboration with the Honduran armed forces. See here for more on U.S.-Honduras security engagement.
• Last Friday State Department officials, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Luis Arreaga, met with a Honduran delegation for the U.S.-Honduras Bilateral Human Rights Working Group to discuss security sector reform, combatting impunity and human rights.
• Honduras began destroying 12,000 confiscated firearms and bullets this week using equipment donated by the United States. According to Tiempo, the action was part of a U.S.-supported program with the Honduran military and police designed to "strengthen a culture of peace." The program is funded by the United States but implemented by British nonprofit MAG (Mines Advisory Group) International.
• Peruvian President Ollanta Humala said his government would shift away from forced eradication of coca towards alternative crop substitution in the Valley of the Apurimac, Ene, and Mantaro Rivers (Vraem), the largest coca-producing region on Earth and the last part of the country where the Shining Path guerrilla group carries out armed operations.

The announcement came Sunday after President Humala fired Peru's anti-narcotics chief, Carmen Masias, who had been a strong proponent of a more hardline, militarized approach. Peru's Ministry of Agriculture will take the lead on planting new crops, such as coffee and coca. On Monday the U.S. Embassy in Lima said:

We support Peru's efforts in the Vraem and consult frequently with our Peruvian partners on how U.S. support can be most effective. We are consulting with the Government of Peru on its revised plans to counter the negative impacts of illicit narcotics activity in the Vraem.

• Security Assistance Monitor obtained a new Defense Department report that provides updates on DoD spending for its 1004 counternarcotics assistance, the second-largest source of military and police aid to Latin America. The report has (somewhat vague) line item breakdowns and dollar amounts of spending between October 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014.
• This week the Organization of American States (OAS) met in Asunción, Paraguay for its 44th General Assembly. As the Pan-American Post noted, it ended yesterday with few surprises. Find the declaration signed by all member states here, Deputy Secretary of State Heather Higginbottom's remarks here and remarks by Roberta Jacobson, Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs here. A few points on the meeting:
  • The State Department announced it would give an extra $420,000 through USAID to the OAS’ Mission to Support the Peace Process in Colombia. See here for more specific numbers on economic and military assistance to Colombia.
  • Guatemalan Foreign Minister Fernando Carrera told Spanish news agency EFE that he submitted a proposal for the international community to consider marijuana a "sovereignly controlled substance," which would safeguard nations that have legalized the drug, such as Uruguay and the United States, from being considered in violation of international treaties. The proposal will reportedly be discussed at an OAS meeting in Guatemala in September.
  • Latin American countries came out in strong support for Cuba's unconditional participation in the 2015 Summit of the Americas in Panama. The OAS also announced that Haiti would host the organization's 45th General Assembly in 2015.
• The United States placed sanctions on Chepe Diablo, a founder of El Salvador's Texis Cartel, one of the top criminal groups in the country. InSight Crime noted that two other drug traffickers were added to the Kingpin List as well, including Victor Ramon Navarro Serrano, or "Megateo," who leads the only remaining faction of Colombia's Maoist Popular Liberation Army (EPL) guerrilla group.
• On Monday, President Obama, citing an "urgent humanitarian crisis," ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services to care for the wave of unaccompanied minors from Central America crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Last year, the number of unaccompanied minors grew from 13,625 in 2012 to 24,668 in 2013, according to McClatchy. As the New York Times noted, the United Nations has found that requests for asylum by people from Central American countries with the highest rates of violence -- Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala -- to Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Belize has increased by 435 percent. Honduras recently set up a consulate in McAllen, Texas to help migrants in need of help.