Pubdate: Wed, 30 Jan 2013
Source: Nanaimo Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Nanaimo Daily News
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1608
Author: Murray Brewster

BELIZE SEEKS HELP OVER DRUG WARS

Canada Providing Non-Lethal Equipment To Help Latin American Nation In
Planning, Military Training

Spillover from Mexico's violent drug war is prompting the Harper
government and the Canadian military to become more involved in
helping defend the tiny Central American country of Belize.

A series of internal reports, obtained by The Canadian Press under the
Access to Information Act, show the government has quietly increased
co-operation with the Commonwealth nation, formerly known as British
Honduras.

Canada is providing non-lethal equipment for security services and
helping with strategic planning and the training of soldiers. The
documents, which all date from the spring of last year, describe the
situation in Belize as deteriorating in the face of ultraviolent drug
cartels that are battling not only Mexican and U.S. law enforcement,
but each other as well.

"Belize is of growing importance to the Canadian government due to the
increasingly precarious security situation in Central America,
particularly along the Belize-Mexico border," said a March 23, 2012,
briefing note prepared for Defence Minister Peter MacKay.

"Following increasing success to counter transnational criminal
organizations (TCOs) in Mexico, these organizations have advanced into
Belize, bringing with them violence and public insecurity."

The long coastline, coral inlets and dark, gnarled jungles have been a
mecca for tourists over the years, but also perfect cover for cocaine
smugglers in fast boats coming up from Columbia.

The increasing cartel focus on Belize prompted U.S. President Barack
Obama added the country to the so-called "black list" of countries
considered major drug-producing states or transit nations for narcotics.

Both the internal Defence Department reports and U.S. experts on the
drug war in Central America say the small Caribbean Sea nation has
become an important thoroughfare for South American drug cartels.

"Many of the countries in Central America and the Caribbean are facing
increasing worries and in some cases documented pressure on their law
enforcement and justice systems from transnational organized crime
groups," said Shannon O'Neil, an adjunct fellow for Latin American
studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"All of these countries will benefit from strengthening their law
enforcement institutions - police, courts, and the like - in the face
of these threats."

Eric Olson, associate director of Latin American programs at the
Washington-based Wilson Centre, agreed and said the success of
anti-drug operations in both the U.S. and Mexico has been overplayed.

To some extent, the shift in drug routes has almost as much to do with
cartels battling each other and smugglers looking for easier laneways
than with better law enforcement, he said.

"The Belizean security forces are over-matched when it comes to the
kind of firepower and capacity that the traffickers have," Olson said.

The coast guard in that country should be a priority for
modernization, given the way smuggling patterns have unfolded, he
added. The country's minister of defence requested help from Canada
when conducting a strategic defence review in 2011 involving the
country's more than 1,050 military, coast guard and national police
forces, say the internal documents.

Canada's special forces recently delivered a batch of military
equipment, including binoculars, combat clothing, helmets, boots,
gloves and other gear. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D