$1.8 million to combat trans-border crimes
Belize’s strategic geographical location on the map places us in a position that is ripe for illicit drug transshipments from South to North America and it is recognized that perpetrators of organized crime have enjoyed significant successes in doing just that. Coupled with this, a 2007 U.N. report showed that gang activity in Central America was becoming increasingly active, Belize being no exception. And with criminal organizations getting the upper hand with more sophisticated and larger quantities of weapons than law enforcement authorities, those at the helm of keeping law and order hope to make a significant dent in the operations in the underworld. The Merida Initiative as it is called is designed to target primarily transnational gangs and organized crime through a number of programmes that will strengthen the institutional capacity of Central American governments. And just how will that be done? There are three main areas that will take precedence: investigating and preventing corruption within law enforcement agencies; facilitating the transfer of key information among regional governments; and funding equipment and training and related workshops. Handing over the first allotment of one million eight thousand dollars on behalf of the US government was their Charge d’ Affairs, J.A. Diffily, while Belize’s Minister of National Security, Carlos Perdomo was on hand to sign the letter of agreement.
General Lloyd Gillett, C.E.O., Min. of Nat’l Security
“The first project is the Central American Fingerprint Exchange. This will allow Belize to access the database, the exchange and retrieve fingerprints from other Central American countries and the United States. It will also allow other countries to access our database. Today criminals move around the region and into the United States, we have a lot of deportees that come into Belize and so this will increase our capability of finding the true identity of criminals whenever they are arrested. The second project is for police equipment, that’s for a total value of six hundred thousand dollars and the priority areas are mobility for the police; vehicles, motorcycles, and we’re also looking at other equipment that was identified by Mr. Crooks in his report as necessary for the police to operate effectively. The third project is for enhanced prison management and this money will be spent on minor repairs at the Kolbe Foundation but also improve training for prison officers but also for rehabilitation programmes that are currently in Kolbe or will be developed.”
JA Diffily, US Charge d’Affairs
“Our interest in fighting terrorism and drug trafficking dovetails quite nicely with the Belizean National Security Strategy so we’re happy to work together with the Ministry of National Security to face the threats that Belize faces and the United States faces as well.”
Marion Ali
“Perpetrators of criminal activity are usually one step ahead of the game. They seem to have connections even in law enforcement agencies. What mechanism will be in place to ensure that those same people who are tasked with running the system don’t undermine that same system?”
General Lloyd Gillett
“What we’ve been doing, and last year was the first time we did this. We’ve been polygraphing selected members of the police force, the Coastguard, the Belize Defense Force and we’ll continue with that programme this year. And those people that are in positions of trust will be polygraphed and they have to pass the polygraph test. If they don’t pass the polygraph then they’ll be moved aside to somewhere where they can’t interfere with investigations.”
The US Congress appropriated sixty five million US dollars in the 2008 fiscal year to support US cooperation with the governments of seven Central American countries. The programmes will be implemented in Belize by the Ministry of National Security. A hundred and fifty thousand dollars will be invested in the fingerprinting exchange aspect, while the police equipment and improved policing will use up six hundred and eight thousand. Another two hundred and fifty thousand dollars will be spent on the prison management programme.
