U.S. Dep. Asst. Secretary of State discusses regional security issues
julissa reynoso
The United States Deputy Assistant Secretary State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Julissa Reynoso has been meeting with different government officials over the past few days. Reynoso’s portfolio covers Central America and the Caribbean. Reynoso, an attorney by trade, is expected to meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs before her departure o Friday. Her visit covers a range of issues under the Central American Regional Security Initiative. During a session this morning at the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence in the Capital, Reynoso fielded questions about everything, from narco-trafficking to the long standing border dispute with Guatemala.
Julissa Reynoso, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, U.S.
“The U.S. as a member of the O.A.S. has played a role in facilitating dialog and attempting to come to some resolution that is equitable in that it will satisfy both countries. My understanding is that the OAS has been facilitating at the border concrete efforts to deal with dispute resolution and that has been fruitful. In fact, we met with several members of the specific commission that deals with that on the Belize/Guatemala border. The recommendation that I believe has come forth by the O.A.S. that both countries should go forth and present their arguments to the I.C.J. it seems like a legitimate and proper way of proceeding given that there has been so many years of attempts of resolving this and there hasn’t been a full comprehensive resolution. I think the I.C.J. is the appropriate venue to deal with it. We will support the decision of the ICJ and hopefully help attempt to implement it.”
“Be careful. That’s the message. Frankly we have—part of it is really engaging with these corporations so that they are aware that they are going to be held fully responsible for any negligent acts on their part. It’s really setting up regulations and norms of transparency. We are learning from those mistakes. We internally are figuring out how we can do this better because obviously what we did before wasn’t sufficient. Countries that are engaging in new drilling should look at the U.S. as an example of how things, how well intended people can make mistakes. I know there is drilling happening now. The Cubans are also looking at drilling and we are keen to share information with Cuba and Belize if it matters to you all as well.”
“In terms of diplomacy and the engagement with Jamaica to try and facilitate and make it happen and provide the guidance and the logic for why the actual extradition of Mister Coke was in Jamaica’s best interests was handled by the state department and my office. Here in Belize in particular, as you all know, we have been engaging with Belize and Central America in the last several years in trying to create new institution or improve the existing institutions so that crime becomes much more contained. You are living a situation where you are feeling the situation is getting worse and that is something that is not unique to Belize but is really a pattern throughout Central America and the Caribbean, but Central American in particular. We have taken that message very seriously and we have increased assistance to the region over the last several years to try to prevent things from getting worse. We are very aware that if there is a significant success in Mexico, it’s not an absolute win because these individuals can then move from Mexico to Central America or the Caribbean. So we got to capture them, we got to detain them; we got to contain their movement throughout the region. So we just can’t just be working at Mexico and stop it there or in Colombia and stop it there—it has to be a holistic approach to tackling this problem. So that’s what CARSI is—we are dealing with the security issues in Central America because Central America has particular forms of insecurity—they are different Mexico and Colombia. However, the pattern has been that when you have real results in one part of the chain, the other parts of the chain are affected. These individuals create a different route—you try to stop them at the border with Panama, they will take a plane and go through Honduras. So that’s how we have to manage it. It’s a regional approach—going from the Caribbean, to Mexico, Central America and Colombia.”
In a release sent this afternoon, the U.S. Embassy has awarded a grant for the Rule of Law Initiative (ROLI), which is a two-year program to be implemented in Belize by the American Bar Association (A.B.A.). The U.S. Department of State awarded a grant totaling U.S. $916,000 to the A.B.A. in order to support the Belizean justice sector institutions to more efficiently and effectively manage cases related to narcotics and transnational crime. We’ll have more on Reynoso’s visit on tomorrow night’s newscast.
BOGUS…………… BELIEVE IT WHEN YOU SEE IT!!!!
how sad that we had the chance to challenge this woman and we did nothing why wasnt she asked why belize has gotten the least amount of money when we are right next to mexico and we have as much murders as any central american country why wasnt she grilled about all the gang members being sent back to these small countries knowing that we cant handle them and alot of other relevant questions could have been put to this woman and nothing was done shame shame shame.
this woman knows nothing about whats going on in belize if she did they would have provided much more assistance to belize but our pm refuses to beg for more money or anything else he is afraid to rock the boat with the us gov. i say we should not rely on the us they only look out for their own interest and i cant blame them but we need to look out for our own interest so lets get help from any country that will provide us with help be it venezuela, be it iran , be it russia , at least they dont put demands on the help they give they just you help and expect nothing in return we could even get help from cuba they are very experienced at crime and am sure they would be glad to help belize but this pm has his nose so far up the us gov a that he cant breath.
What the country and people of Belize need from the US state dept. is much more assistance in the areas of poverty reduction. What about putting in place practical curriculum for our youth and the relevant infrastructure geared toward attracting those trained in their respective field of work??
To my mind, that would be much more succesfull in this war on drugs and terrorism, than all the soffisticated intellegence gathering and data you have at your disposal.
The people need gainfull employment………plain and simple!!
louisville,ky: I am in total agreement with youon this one.One thing i can say is that you’ve always made some good points.Despite the fact that we disagree on some issues.
But that is what keeps this forum going.Nothing is wrong with disagreeing.What is important is that we respect each other’s opinion.
on top of it all she even looks unprofessional looks like she just rolled out of bed and came straight down to give the belizeans a few min of her time look pan y head what a shame these are the people the us gov is sending to represent their interest in central america this woman knows nothing about central america nothing come on reporters you need to start doing your jobs better you need to start asking the hard questions no matter who it is you are intervewing do some home work before you go especially with this woman who is ignorant when it comes to the situation in central america and with the people of central period.
i say lets get help from russia, venezuela, iran, noth korea, bolivia, argentina, these countries could help belize with alot of different things and not expect nothing in return whenever you get help from the us gov. they always want to impose what they expect for the help well i say we dont need the us help we can go to brazil and get more help from them with no strings attached. I would be willing to bet that between all these other countries we could get enough help and then some we only need a leader who is not too proud to beg ooooo i forgot but we dont have a leader .
What the hell is $916,000 is she giving Dean a tip?
LIP-SERVICE…………………………. that’s all it really is.
rod…………. YOU MIGHT BE ON TO SOMETHING.
This is one area where I agree with Dean Barrow, about the atitude of begging.All those who thinks that the government should always be with hat in hand, ask yourself the question if you would like for someone to come to you time and again with his/her hands out? However where I fault him and his government is their lact of ability to attract investors to the country that will provide meaningful employment. Independence mean just that, looking after oneself. There are too much strife going on in the country to give any outsider confidence when it come to investing in the country. Further more it seem like a one man band, with everyone elce lost in the shadow of Dean Barrow. Surely absolute power absolutely corrupts a system.
I agree with Rod we don’t need the US, we can get help from other countries. See what the US did to Guatemala when they experiment with cyphillis injections to their prisoners without Guatemalan knowledge and after 60 years the US apologize, WOW HOW BOUT THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The US is ruthless and use other countries as their guinea pigs,
Yep, we have no leader, we have no good police, we have lots of thugs, theres lots of crime in the south, in Dangaria and Placencia that never never hit the news. Do you see the UK giving us anything? nope, they do not even have BATSUB here any more…and remember, there is no such thing as a “free lunch”, Russia,Venz, they all have strings attached, and do not let anyone tell you any different.. We have and still is a “beggar country”.. We beg, other countries deliver and then the GOB never do with what they are suppose to with de money. ha.. Go back and look at all the “free” money from USA,Canada,China,Ireland,Germany, and where in the hell is it?? In all the pockets of our supposedly godly elected polly-tish-ans. Yep..