THE governments of Guyana and the U.S. yesterday signed an agreement under the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) that is intended to dent the narco-trade.Worth US$350,000, the Letter of Agreement 3.2, which amends the initial Caribbean Basin Security Initiative into two components, was signed by Vice President and Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge and U.S. Ambassador Perry Holloway at the Foreign Affairs Ministry.
The first component of this new agreement will most importantly advance counter-narcotics control among other activities in the areas of enforcement. In the area of law enforcement professionalism, Minister Greenidge explained, US$150,000 will be used to enhance the Guyana Police Force’s Anti-Narcotics Branch and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit’s (CANU) counter-narcotics operations at ports of entry. Additionally, a number of law enforcement training courses will be undertaken.
This US$150,000 complements the US$300,000 which was provided by the U.S. under the CSBI in 2014.
“This project is designed to enhance the capability of Guyana to conduct counter-narcotics operations by developing coordination between agencies, and (improve) intelligence-gathering on drug trafficking,” Minister Greenidge explained.
In the long term, this programme will ensure that the integrity and quality of personnel assigned to CANU are held to high standards. It also serves to strengthen the investigative partnership between CANU and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Under this component of the counter-narcotics control programme, the remaining US$200,000 will supplement the US$250,000 already given by the U.S. in 2014.
The U.S. and Guyana continue to share a close relationship in the area of security, with the latter benefiting significantly under the CBSI through initiation of counter-narcotics strategies, training programmes for members of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), training partnerships between the Guyana Police Force and the Pennsylvania State Police, and through establishment of the Container Control Programme.
PROGRESS
Minister Greenidge said the results of these initiatives are already being seen through increased levels of narcotics seizures; and Ambassador Holloway, in underscoring the importance of the CBSI, said the US$350,000 will assist the Government of Guyana in its law enforcement reform efforts.
It was pointed out that the resources provided will play a critical role in training and equipping law enforcement agencies in Guyana, thereby enabling them to expand their cooperative efforts to combat narcotics trafficking.
“One of the important things about the CBSI… It is Caribbean in the sense that it is regional, because the bad guys, they don’t recognise national borders; they don’t recognise ethnicity; they don’t recognise gender; they are equal-opportunity bad guys in the sense that they do their crimes against everyone, and they do them in every country, in every town,” the U.S. Ambassador said.
The United States Government has already committed more than US$45 million towards the CBSI, and continues to work closely with the Caribbean region in areas like law enforcement and narcotics control.
Guyana and the U.S. signed the CBSI Letter of Agreement on Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement on April 8, 2011, for support to the local security sector. To date, four letters of amendment have been signed.
“CBSI programming has been instrumental in building collaboration among regional states, in order to engender better information sharing on law enforcement matters. For example, the Automated Fingerprint Identification System and the Advanced Passenger Information System – both programmes supported under CBSI – allow for real time information sharing on potential criminal threats among Caribbean States,” the U.S. pointed out.
Financing of CSBI stems from a commitment made by President Barack Obama in 2009 during his visit to Trinidad and Tobago for the 5th Summit of the Americas. At that time, the U.S. President pledged to deepen security cooperation with the Caribbean, and, as such, CBSI is the fulfilment of that commitment.
By Svetlana Marshall
Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge and U.S. Ambassador Perry Holloway, affixing their signatures to the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative’s (CBSI’s) “Letter of Amendment 3.2,” in the Main Conference Room of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (GINA photo)
