Caribbean leaders have urged the US to do more to stop the trafficking of drugs to island nations, saying support for a crackdown on cartels in Mexico has forced smugglers to find new routes through the region. The comments came during a regional security conference in Barbados attended by the US defence secretary, Robert Gates.
Gates for his part acknowledged the growing problem and emphasised the need to tighten coordination between anti-drug efforts in Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States. He said the US had set aside $70m to fund law enforcement and social programmes in Caribbean countries in 2011. Such funding had declined under the previous Bush administration.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that three-quarters of South American cocaine going north passes through Central America, with a much smaller portion moving through the Caribbean. But Gates said Caribbean leaders told him that the situation was getting worse due to the efforts of Plan Merida - the $1.4bn US programme started in 2007 to help Mexico fight the cartels. |