Guyana to sign U. S. security initiative

Guyana is expected to sign the Letter of Agreement to participate in the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) with the United States, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon announced on Thursday at his weekly post-cabinet media briefing.

The agreement is likely to aid with issues of counter-terrorism, illicit trafficking, social injustice, money laundering, and other financial crimes. “The agreement will see the promotion of public safety, social justice and illicit trafficking. The two main components are financing the variables of terrorism, money laundering and other financial crimes,” Luncheon explained.

The cabinet secretary pointed out that the decision to sign the agreement follows on an undertaking reached at the 2009 Summit of the Americas held in Trinidad and Tobago. The two parties have agreed on the design and execution of the CBSI, which was crafted bilaterally by Caricom and the United States Government.

It is hoped that the initiative will promote public safety and security. President Barack Obama had initially announced a commitment of US$45 million to support the effort, which has evolved through dialogue into a U.S. Caribbean (Caricom member states plus the Dominican Republic) Security Cooperation Strategy.

“Too many people in the Americas live in fear. We must not tolerate violence and insecurity … Children must be safe to play in the street, and families should never face the pain of a kidnapping. Policemen must be more powerful than kingpins, and judges must advance the rule of law,” President Obama had said.

Rising crime and violence in the Caribbean, largely related to the drug trade, threaten regional security and stability. President Obama announced his intent to pursue a security partnership with the Caribbean at the Fifth Summit of the Americas, held in Trinidad in April 2009.

Since then, U.S. and Caribbean government representatives have met four times to jointly define and develop the goals and scope for the CBSI. CBSI is a multi-year, multi-faceted effort by the U.S. government and Caribbean partners to develop a joint regional citizen safety strategy to tackle the full range of security and criminal threats to the Caribbean Basin.

The International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INL) Programme and Budget Guide for FY2010 noted that the initiative will be a five-programme.

Developing the CBSI became a priority as a Mérida Initiative began yielding positive results in Mexico and Central America, making the Caribbean an increasingly attractive transit zone for transnational organised criminals, terrorists and illicit traffickers.

Fifteen countries of the Caribbean Basin are included in the CBSI: Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.