Prime Minister goes to Regional Security Conference in Guatemala

Dean Barrow

After nationalizing B.E.L., Prime Minister Dean Barrow headed to Guatemala for the International Conference in Support of the Central America Security Strategy during which, he will be meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon on the CFE’s credit line to B.E.L.  P.M. Barrow left today and is accompanied by the Minister of Police, Doug Singh. The two day meeting begins on Wednesday and will also be attended by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At the center of the discussions will be a coordinated security plan to reduce narco-trafficking and the heavy presence of drug cartels in Central America.

Hillary Clinton

According to reports in the international media, years of U.S.-backed anti-drug crackdowns in Mexico and Colombia have pushed traffickers south into Central American countries like Belize and Guatemala, spreading violence in areas where corruption, poverty and underfunded police forces have allowed the problem to grow. Clinton says the US needs to be a more effective partner in addressing narco-trafficking in the region but warned that it is not a donor’s conference. Leaders from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama will also be joined by representatives from Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Spain, Canada and the European Union.