Pubdate: Fri, 28 Sep 2012
Source: China Post, The (Taiwan)
Copyright: 2012 The China Post.
Contact:  http://www.chinapost.com.tw
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2840

LATIN AMERICAN LEADERS PLEAD FOR NEW IDEAS IN WAR ON DRUGS

UNITED NATIONS -- Latin American leaders at ground zero of the war on
drugs called for a new approach Wednesday, saying the current drive to
crush powerful cartels has failed to reduce consumption. The
presidents of Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia all spoke at the U.N.
General Assembly of the need to find a new approach to the global war
drugs.

"The premise of our fight against drugs has proven to have serious
flaws," said President Otto Perez of Guatemala, who in the past has
advocated legalizing drugs to wipe out the profit motive for
traffickers.

According to U.S. government figures, some 90 percent of the cocaine
and other drugs sent from South America to the United States passes
through or is stored in Central America, helping make it one of the
world's most violent regions.

Outgoing Mexican President Felipe Calderon pleaded with the United
Nations to examine the "limits" of the war on drugs and weigh
alternatives to the fight in which thousands die every year.

"I demand that the United Nations not only take part in, but that it
lead, a discussion without prejudices ... that could bring us all to
solutions that have new and efficient focuses," Calderon told the U.N.
General Assembly.

In his last address to the world body before he steps down December 1,
Calderon charged that most countries have not owned up to the role
they play in deadly organized drug crime, "the biggest cause of
violent crime in the world."

The United Nations "must honestly examine, with academic rigor and
global re
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