|
Newsbrief:
Guatemala
Seeks
More
Anti-Drug
Money
from
United
States
9/24/04
Just days after once again
being named to the State Department's list of major drug-producing or
transiting countries, Guatemala called on the US to pay up if it wanted better results in the
Central
American nation long known as a major transshipment point for cocaine
heading
north from Colombia.
In remarks reported by the
Chinese news agency Xinhua, Guatemalan President Oscar Berger said the US must provide more financial and material
assistance
if his country is to be more efficient in prosecuting drug traffickers.
"Guatemala is and will continue being a good partner of
the United States in the combat against drug-trafficking,"
Berger
asserted. "Should the United States want more efficiency, then it ought to be a
better
partner. They have the resources and
must strengthen the Guatemalan army with speedboats and helicopters,"
Berger said. "The only resources we
count with in the combat against drug trafficking in Guatemala are ourselves," he added.
US military and police aid to Guatemala, almost all for anti-drug purposes, has
averaged
about $3 million per year since the turn of the century. The
bulk of the aid comes from two programs,
the State Department's International Narcotics Control program and the
Defense
Department's Counternarcotics program. Unfortunately,
it appears that the Guatemalan
military has taken a leading role not in suppressing the drug traffic
but in
running it. (For journalistic accounts
of Guatemalan military involvement in the drug traffic, read Guatemalan
journalist Jose Ruben Zamora at
http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=18179
online and US journalist Frank Smyth at http://www.franksmyth.com
online. At Smyth's web site click the
link for Guatemala to find several relevant articles.)
-- END --
|
Issue #355, 9/24/04
Editorial: The Moral Choice is Clear |
With New Sentencing Legislation Pending in Congress, Church Leaders Urge an End to Mandatory Minimums |
Patients, Doctors, Supporters Head to Washington to Demand Rescheduling of Marijuana as a Medicine |
For Second Year, John W. Perry Fund Helps Students with Drug Convictions Afford College |
DRCNet Interview: Michael Badnarik, Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate |
DRCNet Book Review: "Patients in The Crossfire: Casualties in The War On Medical Marijuana," by Americans For Safe Access |
Action Alert: Still Time to Contact Judiciary Committee Members About HEA Drug Provision |
Newsbrief: Schwarzenegger Signs Syringe Access Bill, Vetoes NEP Bill |
Newsbrief: Schwarzenegger Vetoes Bill Barring High School Drug Testing |
Newsbrief: New Jersey Needle Exchange Bill on Fast Track, Passes First Hurdle |
Newsbrief: Former Child Actor Macauley Culkin Busted for Drugs in All-Too-Typical Cave-In to Police Search Request |
Newsbrief: Montel Williams Show Brings Medical Marijuana Issue to the Masses |
Newsbrief: Bush Warns of Canada Drug Threat, Whistles Past Afghan Opium Fields |
Newsbrief: Guatemala Seeks More Anti-Drug Money from United States |
Newsbrief: Decades of Colombian Drug War Brings... New, More Efficient Drug Organizations |
Newsbrief: Narc Hates Free Publicity |
Newsbrief: This Week's Corrupt Cops Story |
Newsbrief: British Drug Policy Think Tank Says Government Abandoned Planned Heroin Maintenance Expansion |
This Week in History |
The Reformer's Calendar
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