How the US Props Up Criminals and Murderers All in the Name of Our Catastrophic Drug War

[marmar]

AlterNet / By Ryan Devereaux

How the US Props Up Criminals and Murderers All in the Name of Our Catastrophic Drug War
The US appears to be repeating its historically catastrophic strategy of propping up human rights abusers and simplistically relying on militarization to root out social problems.

July 8, 2011 |


It’s considered the most dangerous place on Earth outside of an active war zone. A cluster of Central American countries known as the Northern Triangle, officially made up of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. With a murder rate four times higher than headline-grabbing Mexico and ten times that of the United States, the region is said to be as deadly as Kandahar or Mogadishu. In 2007 alone, each of the three nations individually saw more homicides than all 27 countries of the European Union combined.

And it’s getting worse.

In recent months U.S. media outlets and think tanks have pointed a collective finger at one overriding cause for Central America’s rising level of violence; the influx of foreign drug traffickers. Late last month Secretary of State Hilary Clinton traveled to Guatemala City to meet with all seven of the region’s presidents as well as Mexican President Felipe Calderón, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and officials from Canada, Europe, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank. The topic of the meeting was Central American security. Clinton vowed to increase U.S. spending in the region by $40 million, upping U.S. investment under a particular regional security package to $300 million; a ten percent increase from last year’s commitment. Meanwhile the Inter-American Development Bank has pledged $500 million in aid spread out over two years. In total, international donors pledged nearly $1 billion in aid to Central America.

According to Clinton, the funds–which in part will be directed to creating specialized anti-drug police units and intelligence gathering–are necessary to ensure that institutions in the region are, “capable of protecting human rights.” .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/151566/how_the_us_props_up_criminals_and_murderers_all_in_the_name_of_our_catastrophic_drug_war/

[Uncle Joe]

1. The "War on Some Drugs" is the definition of insanity realized.

Not only is the U.S.-funded Honduran government in bed with international criminal organizations, it is also conducting a violent crackdown on progressive activists throughout the country. Since the coup that forced President Manuel Zelaya from office in 2009, Gerrardo Torres has seen a surge in state violence directed at those who oppose the policies of the current Honduran president, Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo. Torres is an independent journalist and a leading member of the National Popular Resistance Front, a non-violent activist movement comprised of students, women's groups, LGBT activists, campesinos, indigenous peoples and Afro-Hondurans. On March 18 of this year Torres witnessed Honduran security forces kill prominent teacher-activist Ylse Ivania Velázquez Rodríguez by deliberately firing a tear gas canister at her face from point-blank range, unable to breathe she was subsequently struck by a car. According to Torres, “900 women have been killed,” in Honduras since June of 2009. He adds that, “Only 60 of the cases are in the process of investigation by the police.” While the government has come down hard on the Honduran teachers’ movement, the student movement and the campesino movement, he points out, “The most violent crimes have been committed against the people of the LGBT community.” Torres cites reports of assaults on Honduran LGBT community members after being detained by the police. He adds, “This is the people that the United States is giving money to.”

(snip)

When asked why the United States continues to back this approach, Lindsay-Poland replied, “If all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.”

It’s time the U.S. pick up some new tools.

There is an overwhelming call among those who study the Northern Triangle, those who report on its challenges and those who live within its borders for radical changes in U.S. and international drug policy. Prohibition has failed. It drives the incentive for drug trafficking organizations seeking profit and stigmatizes those with addiction issues as criminals. The United States must seriously consider the wide range of policy options advocated by groups like the Global Commission On Drug Policy; a delegation of world leaders including the former presidents of Mexico and Colombia who are calling for new approaches to international drug policy. The so-called war on drugs is a war on poor people worldwide. It rewards only the most repugnant elements of civil society, and in the case of a Central America–a region as culturally precious as it is institutionally fragile–it represents an existential threat that is rapidly worsening.

http://www.alternet.org/story/151566/how_the_us_props_up_criminals_and_murderers_all_in_the_name_of_our_catastrophic_drug_war

Thanks for the thread, marmar.

[xchrom]

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