Counternarcotics
This post was written by CIP's Cuba program intern Meghan Vail On May 27th, two House of Representatives committees held a joint hearing on U.S.-Mexico security cooperation. The Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism of the Committee on Homeland Security and the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere of the Committee on Foreign Affairs were specifically interested in the next steps for the Mérida Initiative, the $1.4 billion U.S.
Three articles in today's news provided interesting statistics about security and narcotrafficking in Latin America: Bolivia's chief of the FELCN (the U.S.-aided Police Special Forces for Counternarcotics), Félix Molina, provided the following statistics about FELCN operations in 2010:
The Obama Administration has been working this spring to put its own stamp on security and counternarcotics programs for Latin America. This is starting to come together as four initiatives: the Mérida, Caribbean Basin Security, Central American Regional Security, and Colombian Security Development Initiatives.
In our latest "Just the Facts" podcast, Adam talks with John Walsh, senior associate on the Washington Office on Latin America's Drug Policy Program, about the Obama administration's newly announced anti-drug strategy, made public on May 11.
The "Just the Facts" podcast is available here and on iTunes. Thank you for listening.
This post was written by CIP Intern Cristina Salas On May 5th, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Chuck Grassley, (R-Iowa) co-chaired a Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control hearing on "Drug Trafficking Violence in Mexico: Implications for the United States." The main topic of discussion at this hearing was the need to prevent drug trafficking-related violence from penetrating furthermore into the United States.
Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) recently introduced legislation (S. 3172) in the Senate intended to direct a more focused approach to regional counternarcotics programs.
On Tuesday, March 23rd a delegation of top Obama administration officials traveled to Mexico to discuss the evolving U.S.-Mexico counternarcotics strategy.
The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) just released a new report by Coletta Youngers and John Walsh.
Yesterday, the Department of State released its 2010 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report. This annual report submitted to Congress "describes the efforts of key countries to attack all aspects of the international drug trade in Calendar Year 2009." Volume I of the 2010 report includes new statistics on the coca cultivation and counter-drug efforts in the Andean region.
Over the past three weeks, the debate surrounding the strategy to fight the "war on drugs" in Mexico has resurfaced, leading President Felipe Calderón to admit that the current militarized approach used by his administration must be coupled with social initiatives to be successful.