Posted: September 16, 2011 - 10:16 AM
Author: Adele Trapp - Amandala.com.bz
United States President Barack Obama has included Belize and El Salvador on the list of 22 countries ranked as “Major Illicit Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries for Fiscal Year 2012.” Belize and Salvador have now been lumped with Afghanistan, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Venezuela as major players on the international drug trafficking scene.
Author: Adele Trapp - Amandala.com.bz
United States President Barack Obama has included Belize and El Salvador on the list of 22 countries ranked as “Major Illicit Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries for Fiscal Year 2012.” Belize and Salvador have now been lumped with Afghanistan, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Venezuela as major players on the international drug trafficking scene.
The indications are that the flow of illicit drugs through Belize could have a street value greater than our petroleum exports, possibly exceeding half-a-billion dollars, depending on quality of the drugs and the market where the drugs are actually sold.
Thursday evening’s listing is significant, since Belize has not been listed since 1999, twelve years ago, according to official US reports.
The blacklisting comes on Salvador’s Independence Day and during the height of Belize’s most festive national celebration season, which culminates in Independence Day ceremonies, in 6 days.
Amandala contacted Belize Prime Minister Dean Barrow this evening for comment, but he told us that he was sorry that he could not talk to us, because of evening engagements, including the Tribute to Belizean Patriots, an annual celebratory September event.
PM Barrow did not express surprise at the listing of Belize as a major drug-producing/transit state when we shared with him the nature of our query. Our multiple calls to Police Minister Doug Singh were futile.
The George Bush White House Archives notes that in a November 1, 2001, letter, Bush had signaled that, “Belize was removed from the list of major drug-transit countries in 1999 because there was clear evidence that the drug trade was not currently using it as a transit point for drugs moving to the United States.” But he noted that, “If, at a future date, there is reliable information that U.S.-bound drugs are again moving through Belize in significant quantities, I will again place it on the Majors List.”
Amandala has checked all the listings since 2001, and none of them included Belize as a Major Illicit Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Country—not until a new list was released this evening out of Washington. The news was widely circulated by the Associated Press and international news organs.
“The most recent U.S. assessment for Belize estimates the flow of drugs destined for the United States through this Central American country on the Caribbean coast at about 10 metric tons,” said an official memorandum from the White House to the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
The memo said that Belize is vulnerable as a south-north avenue for illegal narcotics.
This, said the memo, is also demonstrated by recent drug and weapons seizures in Mexico along the border it shares with Belize.
“United States officials also report that drug control observers in Belize are increasingly concerned about the presence of drug trafficking organizations, including Los Zetas of Mexico, in the country’s border areas and in coastal ports,” it added.
The memo notes that, “According to the most recent U.S. interagency assessment of cocaine flows, the amount of this illicit substance passing through El Salvador destined directly for the United States was estimated at 4 metric tons in 2009....
It elaborated that 90% of the 700 metric tons of cocaine shipped from Colombia and other such drug-producing states are destined for the US, and are passed through this Central American region.
The international news reports on Belize’s listing today signal that sanctions are possible, but the White House specified no such possible sanctions for Belize. We know that sanctions have been previously waived for countries such as Venezuela in some instances.
Belize had been removed from the list in 1995. When Belize was added back to the list in 1996, under the 1961 act, the US officials had said, “...Belize’s geographical location south of Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula makes it an ideal strategic drug transshipment point for U.S.-bound cocaine shipments. The country’s long, unprotected coastline, large tracts of rain forest, many inland waterways and large unpopulated areas make Belize an inviting feeder site for moving drugs into the mainstream Mexican trafficking routes that carry the bulk of South American cocaine to U.S. markets.”
The US noted that notwithstanding “a demonstrated commitment” by Belizean officials, the country did not havethe human and material resources to control its borders adequately, to stave off drug runners.
The 1996 listing noted that, “...Belizean authorities reported seizing 850 kilograms of cocaine in 1993, and 650 kilograms in 1990.”
We have not found any documentation detailing Belize’s listing or status between 1996 and 1999.
In November 2010, Belize recorded a major drug bust on the Southern Highway, when a twin engine Beechcraft landed with what had been identified as Colombian cocaine—$131 million worth, estimated at 2,604 kilos or 2.6 metric tons.
Cocaine is not the only drug control problem. Our newspaper had reported back in March 2011, according to the US State Department report titled, 2011 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), that there is no evidence that synthetic drugs are being used or manufactured in Belize, though large quantities of precursor chemicals transit Belize en route to Mexico.
The International Narcotics Control Board 2011 report said, “Suspicious shipments of ephedrine and pseudo-ephedrine from South Asia and South-East Asia and destined for Belize, Guatemala and Mexico continue to be trans-shipped in European countries, in particular Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom.”
The March 2011 report had informed that in 2010, Belize seized 97 metric tons (MT) of marijuana. In 2009, Government seized 291.5 kilos of marijuana.
“Also in 2010, Belize seized over 2.6 MT of cocaine compared to 28.3 kg in 2009. The jump in cocaine seizures can be largely attributed to a November 2010 bi-lateral operation with DEA, where 2,607 kg of cocaine were seized along with one aircraft, one go-fast vessel, and the arrests of five … law enforcement officers who … assisted in offloading the cocaine. This was the largest cocaine seizure recorded in Belize,” the report said.
Whereas drug transshipment activity continues to be a concern, the presence of a US combat craft may quiet things a bit.
A press release issued by the US Embassy in Belize today informed that “the United States Marine Corps’ newest combat utility aircraft” is “in action this month, as Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 365, Marine Aircraft Group 26, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing visits to conduct training in Belize.”
It reported that four MV-22 Ospreys from VMM-365, based at Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., had arrived in Belize last week for a 10-day training deployment.
Amandala received a call from concerned Sarteneja residents on Tuesday evening, querying why strange aircrafts had been flying over their seaside community in Corozal. A military source told us that the crafts must be Ospreys. The US Embassy confirmed that today.
“This training deployment is providing local citizens many opportunities to see the Osprey in action. The Osprey takes off and lands like a helicopter but flies like a conventional aircraft, allowing it to fly twice as fast, carry three times the weight, and travel four times farther than the helicopters it has replaced,” said the Embassy press release.
“This versatile aircraft can accomplish many Marine Corps missions, such as delivering troops into combat, performing rescue and recovery operations, and providing humanitarian assistance in locations that can’t be reached by airplane.”
The operation signals unbroken bilateral relations between Belize and the US, notwithstanding today’s placement of Belize on the list of “Major Illicit Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries.”
No official information has yet come from either the US Embassy in Belize or the Government of Belize on this latest development.
WASHINGTON, Sept 16 (KUNA) -- Afghanistan, Pakistan and India are among the 22 nations named in the President Barack Obama's annual list of the top narcotics-producing and drug-transit countries, released late Thursday. Of the 22 countries identified by President Obama to Congress, as part of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act (FAA), Obama highlighted Bolivia, Burma, and Venzuela as "failed demonstrably" during the last year to make significant or meaningful efforts to adhere to the international counternarcotics agreement, according to the State department.
Other countries identified on this year's list include the Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. Belize and El Salvador. "When a country on the list does not fulfill its obligations under international counternarcotics agreements and conventions, the President determines that the country has "failed demonstrably" to meet its counterdrug obligations. Such a designation can lead to sanctions," the State department said. However, Obama may execute a waiver when he determines there is a vital national interest in continuing U.S. assistance. Even without such a waiver, humanitarian assistance and counternarcotics assistance may continue.
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