by Karl B. Rodney
In recent years there has been discussion between the United States and various Caribbean nations that are somehow facilitated between cooperation and conflict around the issue of drug trafficking and the impact it has had on the region.
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This relationship between the United States and the small economically dependent Caribbean nations has contributed to the perception that economic and political coercion is being used to force the Caribbean to concentrate more on the supply side of the drugs issue as opposed to the demand side that has been under the control of the United States.
For decades the US policy, as it relates to drug trafficking, was to implement restrictions on the supply side and in many instances have imposed on the Caribbean country the huge problem of solving the movement of drugs throughout the region that ends up on the shores of the US with respect to the demand side of the market for drugs in the United States.
The emphasis on supply and the maritime counter-drug measures, the sovereignty and security of the Caribbean countries have been one that has created narrowly defined objectives that does not always provide common grounds for the totality of the drug trafficking enterprises to be discussed, and as a result, the Caribbean region is left with this monster problem.
The recognition of this problem has not gone unnoticed and has been dealt with particularly over the decades by retired Congressmember Charles Rangel, who, at several Carib News Multinational Business Conferences held in the Caribbean has made the point to Caribbean leaders that they ought to be more assertive around what the United States should be doing with respect to the war on drugs in the Caribbean, rather than the US leaving the problem to be solved by the Caribbean Nations and just providing support with respect to the interception of some of the traffickers and providing occasional support, rather than taking on the hardcore issue of the demand in the United States that is creating the drive for drugs coming through the Caribbean. He has warned year after year to these leaders that there needs to be more aggressive action on the part of the US with respect to supplying the needs and support to handle the trafficking of drugs in the region in a significant way.
The core problem is generated in the United States, which is the demand, and that in fact the effort that has been made within the region with respect to impacting the supply side has not worked, and so it is now time for the realization that the United States needs to step up to the plate in providing significant help to solve the drug trafficking and the guns that are coming from the US to the Caribbean.
Therefore, it was interesting to see that at the Summit on crime some of the Prime Ministers are coming to the position that the US must take a more active role on the issue of the drug trafficking that is driving the guns and violent crime in the region. Bahamas Prime Minister, Prime Minister Philip Davis has made the direct appeal that the US must do something about the issue and must do something about the flood of guns coming into the region, that is something that needs priority on their part. Prime Minister Holness has taken a similar position asking for the US to provide substantial help in helping the region with the war on crime that comes out of drug trafficking, the guns, money laundering which have led to corruption within the government.
For those of us in the Diaspora we too can play a role in lobbying the elected officials, lobbying the appointed officials to see the needs of the region with respect to its imbalance pushed in on poor countries, the issue of controlling the drugs and guns that are flooding into their countries primarily as a result of the demands in the US and the manufacturers, with the exchange of guns for drugs. It is just one piece of the puzzle In the violent crime that is so pervasive in the region.
There are a number of other issues to be dealt with and should be, but here is one that there has been some discomfort in confronting the US on its own obligation and its own requirement to provide significant help in stemming the demand and stemming the flow of drugs through the region and not to leave it to the local police and authorities.
It is overwhelming these countries and you can see the impact day in day out. So we must lobby our elected officials, and bring the issue to their attention, the impact it is creating in the region and the disastrous effect it is having in communities, one that the United States should take some responsibility for and provide should resources to confront it and help make a change.
