Caribbean Still Major Drug Transhipment Route – US Report

Text of report by Caribbean Media Corporation news agency website on 4 March

Washington: The United States Department of State says that illicit drug trafficking continues to pose major problems in the Caribbean.

In its 2007 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, released on Thursday, the US State Department identified a number of Caribbean countries, including the Bahamas, Jamaica, Guyana, Haiti, Suriname and the Eastern Caribbean, as major transit points for cocaine and/or marijuana bound for the United States.

The report said cocaine flow originates in South America and arrives in the Bahamas by go-fast boats, small commercial freighters, or small aircraft from Jamaica, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and Venezuela.

Sport fishing vessels and pleasure crafts then transport the cocaine from the Bahamas to Florida, blending into the legitimate vessel traffic that moves daily between these locations.

Larger go-fast and sport fishing vessels regularly transport between 1,000 to 3,000 pounds of marijuana shipments from Jamaica to the Bahamas, which are moved to Florida in the same manner as cocaine.

“The Bahamas will likely continue to be a preferred route for drug transshipment and other criminal activity because if its location and the expanse of its territorial area,” the State Department said, urging the Bahamian government to continue its “strong commitment to joint counter-narcotics efforts and its cooperative efforts to extradite drug traffickers to the US,” the report said.

The State Department said the seven Eastern Caribbean countries

– Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines – form the “eastern edge” of the Caribbean transit zone for drugs, mostly cocaine and marijuana products, going from South America to US, Europe and other markets.

It said illicit narcotics transit the Eastern Caribbean mostly by sea, in small go-fast vessels, larger fishing vessels, yachts and freight carriers.

“Drug trafficking and related crimes, such as money laundering, drug use, arms trafficking, official corruption, violent crime, and intimidation, have the potential to threaten the stability of the small, democratic countries of the Eastern Caribbean and, to varying degrees, have damaged civil society in some of these countries,” the report said.

The State Department also said Guyana is a trans-shipment point for cocaine destined for North America, Europe, and the Caribbean, noting that in 2006, domestic seizures of cocaine were “insignificant.”

“The Government of Guyana’s inability to control its borders, a lack of law enforcement presence, and a lack of aircraft or patrol boats allow traffickers to move drug shipments via sea, river, and air with little resistance,” the report said, stating that the Bharrat Jagdeo administration is yet to implement the “substantive initiatives” of its National Drug Strategy Master Plan (NDSMP) for 2005-2009.

“Government counter-narcotics efforts are undermined by the lack of adequate resources for law enforcement, poor coordination among law enforcement agencies, and a weak judicial system,” the report added.

It said Haiti, a “major transit country for cocaine” from South America, is experiencing a surge in air smuggling of the drug out of Venezuela, and is a “significant transit country for cocaine destined for the United States and to a lesser extent Canada and Europe.”

The report said the number of drug smuggling flights from Venezuela to Hispaniola increased by 167 per cent from 2005 to 2006, about one-third of which went to Haiti.

“In addition to 1,125 miles of unprotected shoreline, uncontrolled seaports, and numerous clandestine airstrips, Haiti’s struggling police force, dysfunctional judiciary system, corruption, a weak democracy and a thriving contraband trade contribute to the prolific use of Haiti by drug traffickers as a strategic point of distribution,” the report said.

The State Department said Jamaica, too, is a major transit point for cocaine en route to the United States, and is also a key source of marijuana and marijuana derivative products for the Americas.

“Jamaica’s difficult to patrol coastline, over 100 unmonitored airstrips, busy commercial and cruise ports, and convenient air connections make it a major transit country for cocaine,” the State Department said, noting, at the same time, that the country remains the Caribbean’s largest producer and exporter of marijuana.

The report added that Suriname – a transit point for South American cocaine en route to Europe and, to a lesser extent, the United States – is unable to control its borders.

It added that Suriname is also hampered by inadequate resources, limited training for law enforcement agents, lack of a law enforcement presence in the interior, and lack of aircraft or patrol boats.

“The GOS (Government of Suriname) is unable to detect the diversion of precursor chemicals for drug production, as it has no legislation controlling precursor chemicals and, hence, no tracking system to monitor them,” the report said.

“The lack of resources, limited law enforcement capabilities, inadequate legislation, drug related corruption, a complicated and time-consuming bureaucracy, and overburdened and under-resourced courts inhibit GOS’s ability to identify, apprehend, and prosecute narcotic traffickers,” it added.

“Suriname’s sparsely populated coastal region and isolated jungle interior, together with weak border controls and infrastructure, make narcotics detection and interdiction efforts difficult,” it continued.

The State Department said Trinidad and Tobago is a transit country for illegal drugs from South America to the US and Europe.

But it noted that while there has been an increase in illicit drug traffic out of Venezuela, the quantity of drugs transiting Trinidad and Tobago “does not have a significant effect on the US.”

“Cannabis is grown in Trinidad and Tobago, but not in significant amounts,” it said, pointing out, however, that the country’s petrochemical industry imports and exports chemicals that can be used for drug production.

But the State Department said the Patrick Manning government has instituted export controls to prevent diversion.

(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Americas. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.