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Direct attorney general and homeland security secretary to meet with Latin American leaders to develop a hemispheric crime strategy
"Barack Obama will direct his Attorney General and Homeland Security Secretary to meet with their Latin American and Caribbean counterparts in the first year of his presidency to produce a regional strategy to combat drug trafficking, domestic and transnational gang activity, and organized crime. A hemispheric pact on security, crime and drugs will permit the U.S. and Latin America and the Caribbean to advance serious and measurable drug demand reduction goals, while fostering cooperation on intelligence and investigating criminal activity.
Sources:
Subjects: Crime, Foreign Policy
No comprehensive pact on horizon
Updated: Monday, January 11th, 2010 | By Robert Farley
We checked news sources and the Web sites for the attorney general and Department of Homeland Security but could find no mention of work on a comprehensive hemispheric crime strategy.
So we turned to Shannon K. O'Neil, a fellow in Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan foreign policy think tank, who said the Obama administration has taken steps toward working with specific countries – most notably Mexico and Colombia – on these issues. American officials have talked about a regional crime strategy with many other nations, including Brazil, and to groups like the Organization of American States and the Union of South American Nations, she said.
"So there is some regionalization of the issues going on," O'Neil said.
"But given the very different priorities and even preferences of some of these nations and the United States, the likelihood of a true hemispheric security pact is low," O'Neil said. "This isn’t just resistance from the U.S., but due to resistance from other nations of such a formalized arrangement."
We give the administration credit for working toward this pledge, but with no regional crime pact on the immediate horizon, we rate this promise Stalled.
Sources:Interview with Shannon K. O'Neil, a fellow in Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, Jan. 11, 2010
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