Embassy of the United States

speeches

A 21st Century Challenge to National Security: Drugs And Its Implications For Guyana

Presented by Anthony J. Interlandi, Charge d’Affaires

Senior Members of the Guyanese Press Association:

Brutal Illustration of the Effect of the Drug Trade

I don’t think we can ever forget the horrific photos on the front page of the Kaiteur News on March 30 of this year.

In the humble neighborhood of Agricola, we saw the cut-off head of David Barrow strewn in the front yard, tossed away like an empty beer bottle.  His lifeless eyes stared into nowhere.  The rest of his bullet-blasted body lay in the house.

In that same house, we saw 17-year old Shamika Boyce’s blood soaked body lying on the bed.  She had paid the ultimate price for her relationship with David Barrow.

On the front step, a male friend of David Boyce also lay dead.  The assailants had blasted him with a high-powered rifle at close range.

The morning papers said “drug link seen in gruesome murders…cocaine found in tins and bottles…”

This is what the illegal drug trade means for Guyana.

It means dead teen-age girls.

It means ruined lives.

And it means a threat to the national security of Guyana

Narco-trafficking Growing

Regrettably, Guyana’s role as a trans-shipment point for narcotics is growing.

• In the United States, law enforcement agents seized of 155 kilograms of cocaine at the Port of Baltimore.  In March, police at JFK International Airport arrested 13 people in an operation against a major New York-Guyana drug ring.  In 2004, U.S. law enforcement recorded over 200 seizures or incidents of illicit drugs, linked to Guyana.

• In the United Kingdom, the authorities recently seized $54.5 million of cocaine.  The sum of these seizures in the United States and United Kingdom amounted to US$100 million.

Your own news outlets regularly report about the discovery of cocaine in exports of frozen fish, timber, rice and coconuts.

Cocaine flows into and out of Guyana through is sparsely protected-borders and along its coast.

Clandestine airstrips in the heavily forested interior facilitate trafficking from Venezuela and Colombia.

Once the contraband substances are in country, they are carried to Georgetown by road, waterway.  Then they are sent on to the U.S., Europe and the Caribbean via commercial carriers.

Narcotics are also being sent via cargo ships either directly or through intermediate Caribbean ports to their destinations.

Implications for Guyana’s Economy, Democracy and Independence…

Some Guyanese citizens might ask “Why should we worry…that’s a problem for the Americans, the Canadians and the Europeans.  It’s your citizens and it’s your headache…”

But is it?

Guyana is working hard to strengthen its democracy, promote prosperity and stand as independent country.   The international narcotics trade undermines all of these national goals.

1.  Legitimate business suffers.  Narco-trafficking distorts the economy.  Money and personnel are diverted from lawful businesses toward the allure of the big, quick buck.  Lawful businesses are tarnished.  Guyanese exports of forest products and foodstuffs get extra scrutiny at ports of arrival.  That can causes delays and frustration to the buyer.  They might look elsewhere.  So the honest entrepreneur is stymied and law-abiding citizen see fewer jobs in the legal sector.  The accompanying violence can scare off foreign investors.

2.  Narco-trafficking undermines democracy itself.   A. The narcotics trade usually spurs the formation of heavily armed gangs to protect turf.  These groups are often better armed than police and, even the armed forces, in some countries.  These rogue armed forces threaten democratic governance.  They don’t answer to the will of the people.  They only answer the commands of their bosses.  They thwart democracy and they strike fear into the citizenry.  In the Agricola triple homicide, the assailants terrorized the neighborhood for over thirty minutes.  Can that locality ever be the same?

B.  Dirty Money Pollutes Politics.  Narcotics’ trafficking generates huge sums of cash.  This cash can easily find its way a nation’s politics.  Drug barons seek and buy loyalty.  It has happened in vast swaths of Colombia and it can happen in other nations.  Since money is easily fungible, the tainted funds can work their way into the political system without or without the compliance of political leaders.  Those that hold democracy dear will want to combat the drug trafficking aggressively.

3.  And with the drug trade, corruption thrives.  In November of last year, the U.S. authorities apprehended an employee of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport with eight pounds of cocaine upon his arrival at JFK Airport.  Just a couple of weeks ago, U.S. law enforcement detained a Guyanese soldier at the Kennedy Airport with cocaine strapped to his body.  These incidents tarnish the image of the dedicated civilian and military servants of the Guyanese nation.  They spur citizens to lose faith in national institutions.

4.  National independence is undermined.  Guyana just celebrated its independence date.  The Guyanese people cherish their hard-earned freedom. But the drug trade’s enormous sums can be used to undermine that independence.  Drug barons have no national loyalties.  They have no allegiances except to illicit gains.  Your airspace isn’t your own and your rivers are turned into waterways of contraband.  After waiting centuries to control its own affairs, why would Guyana want to surrender its sovereignty to a faceless enemy?

What are the Guyanese Authorities Doing?

The Guyanese authorities have started to recognize this threat.  At the working level, the authorities have seized quantities of cocaine from travelers at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.  Most recently, the Government of Guyana completed its Master Anti-Drug Plan.  It has been adopted by Cabinet and is undergoing amendment.  The Guyana public awaits its enactment and full implementation.

The Government of Guyana established a Financial Intelligence Unit to track Unit to track narco-money and suspicious transactions.  To date, this unit has conducted preliminary investigations on approximately 28 cases. It is preparing drafts of legislation related to terrorist finance and money laundering.

The Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defense Force have been increasing their capacity in drug interdiction, but have suffered from severe resource limitations.

What is the United States Government Doing to Help Guyana?

The United States recognizes that Guyana is a nation of modest resources and needs help in this struggle.  So we are working hard with our counterparts in the government.

Military-to-Military Cooperation.  Yesterday, I had the privilege of joining the Commander of a U.S. Coast Guard vessel in turning over a fast boat to the Guyanese Coast Guard.  Drug dealers use streamlined vessels with powerful motors.  Guyana’s Coast Guard has dedicated and patriotic personnel.  Now they have a speedy vessel to chase the bad guys.

The United States has also trained a joint force of thirty personnel of the Guyana Police and Defense Forces.  We will also conduct joint forces field training in June 2005.

Help to the Judiciary.  Without a competent and professional judiciary, anti-crime measures will fail.  We have sponsored an experienced U.S. judge to assess Guyana’s judicial backlog.  Greater efficiency is required to move cases along.  We have provided computers to High Court judges to reduce backlogs. We have sent your judges to international training programs focused on case management and the reduction of court backlog.  We will continue to work on improving the rule-of-law.

Economic Development.  We are also working with you on economic development.  The Guyanese people need opportunity in legitimate businesses.  A robust economy that creates jobs and offers a road out of poverty is strong antidote to the poison of drug money. 

Through our foreign assistance projects, we are upgrading marketing and manufacturing skills.  We are helping four furniture manufacturers with quality control and design.  This will help their products to compete globally.

We are also working with the Guyana Customs Authority to upgrade tracking of goods through the system.  Our joint goal is to improve the flow of documentation through technology.  A fast, transparent system means fewer opportunities for bribery and speedier clearance of goods.  That means more trade and more growth for the economy.

In the key area of farm exports, we are working with Guyana’s Food and Drug Department.  We are providing training for quality control and bacteria detection.  This can help to certify your farm goods as disease free for export.

 The United States also continues to support the establishment of a Free Trade Area of the Americas.  Despite what the trade Luddites say, freer trade and open markets boost prosperity.  Guyana should join us in strong support.  Look at what Hong Kong, Singapore, and in our hemisphere, Chile have accomplished with zero or low tariffs.

So Where Do We Go from Here?

A colonel in the Guyana Defense Forces put it best yesterday.  Drug trafficking is a problem for the region.  It transcends national borders.

Guyana’s police, military and customs will have to expand their cooperation with counterparts in Venezuela, Brazil, and Suriname as Trinidad and other nations in the Caribbean.  We have tried to help by putting officers of these nations together in the training we offer.

We also have to get out of the stovepipe mentality.  Police, military, customs have to share information and cooperate.  Civilian leadership and civil society must play a leading role.  Citizens must cooperate with the authorities. No one discipline can defeat this insidious enemy.

My friends in the 20th Century, national security meant defending yourself against the attack or hostile intentions of a rival state.  While that threat still exists, it is far more likely that the faceless enemies of terrorists, transnational drug barons and traffickers-in-persons pose a greater danger to our citizens and our civilization.  The United States learned that lesson brutally on September 11, 2001.  Terrorists, drug traffickers, and snakeheads have no respect for national boundaries.  They operate in the shadows with devastating impact upon our societies.  So we must operate together to root out and expunge this evil.  That, my friends, is the challenge of national security in the 21st century.  Let us rise to meet it.