The lack of government capacity and economic power disadvantage compared to the drug industry, has lead to an increase in violence and corruption.
"Using systematic violence and corruption, intimidation and extortion of public officials, the wealthy and powerful criminal groups have been able to weaken police and judicial systems. They often use violence to threaten or punish anonymous complainants.
United States announced additional economic support for Central America in the fight against drug trafficking.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of U.S. Counternarcotics, William Brownfield, at end of his tour of Central America, said the funds will be delivered in coordination with governments.
"Central America became the main transit route for South American cocaine going to the United States.
Central American businesses demand from governments clear mechanisms to combat insecurity in the region.
The president of the Federation of Private Entities of Central America, Panama and Dominican Republic (FEDEPRICAP), Carlos Amador, said, "Central America is threatened by drug trafficking, gangs and transnational organized crime and to help combat these problems there is an need for a united isthmus."
The movement of illegal drugs is creating ever larger fortunes hand in hand with the financial system, which is used for laundering money.
Bayardo Ramírez Monagas, advisor to the Venezuelan financial system, made this comment in the thirteenth conference on Financial Supervision organized by Guatemala's Banking Regulator (SIB in Spanish) as part of his introduction to the issue of money laundering.
New regulations in El Salvador to tackle gang violence foster the development of regional measures to control and proscribe local gangs.
In order to prevent gang members from fleeing the country to avoid jail, especially to Guatemala and Honduras, these countries has activated extra security measures at their borders.
President Funes asked Guatemala and Honduras to join the fight against organized crime, which has been growing as drugs cartels associate with local gangs.
Central American Nations should say "NO, THANKS", if results from said "aid" are going to be similar to what's going on in Mexico.
The inclusion of Costa Rica in the U.S. Government's list of the countries most affected by illegal drug trafficking confirmed what Costa Ricans already knew: Drug Trafficking has become a very serious issue.
Costa Rica now joins Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, who are also included in the list.
Do these countries have a real chance of stopping drug trafficking, in the context of economies like Guatemala's where the value of the drug economy is double the country's GDP?
In 2007, just 1% of all South American cocaine sold in the USA passed through the region. Now the figure is between 60% and 90%.
While Mexico is the country that makes international headlines for its daily panorama of death and corruption caused by drug traffickers, other nearby countries are also severely affected by the violence. In Honduras 15 people are killed every day from a population of only 7 million.
The cost of customs procedures adds up to 40% to the price of products traded between countries in the region.
The isthmus is the natural destination for the region’s export producers and a large part of the countries’ economic development depends on the 40 million people that inhabit Central America, forming a unified marketplace.
In addition to customs union, the head of the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA), Yolanda Mayora, highlighted the importance of security costs in intraregional commerce, which according to the World Bank make up 3.7% of the final price.
At the summit of the Central American Integration System, authorities agreed to relaunch the regional integration process, centering it on combating crime and violence.
The first chapter of the Action Plan signed by Central American presidents is called “Democratic Security” and foresees meetings among all the sectors related to security and defense in the region for the second half of 2010, as well as obtaining the necessary human, financial and technological resources to develop a security strategy in Central America.
The Summit of the Central American Integration System (SICA) has started in El Salvador; its participants will discuss regional integration and security topics.
The presidents of Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador will take part in the activity.
“During the summit, officials will discuss how to strengthen the region’s democratic institutions, joint policies to mitigate natural disasters and reactivate the regional economy”, reported Prensa Latina, adding that “they will also push for social policies to address poverty and crime”.
The countries analyzed cooperation possibilities in health, tourism and public infrastructure.
Samuel Santos, Nicaraguan Chancellor, met with Ezza Saad, Egypt’s Foreign Relations vice minister and offered the African country legal certainties and economic advantages for investing in the Central American nation.
At the meeting, they also discussed other cooperation possibilities in the medium term, such as the pharmaceutical industry, tourism, infrastructure, culture, public infrastructure, diplomacy and technical cooperation.
An open war is going on in Jamaica over the detention of a kingpin drug dealer; this is an example of what may soon happen in Central America.
An article by Joaquín Villalobos in Elpais.com signals Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala as the countries of the isthmus most affected by drug trafficking, a black market activity which leads to violence and corruption, and may eventually transform a country into a ‘failed state’
High costs related to insecurity and violence place Guatemala at position 124 of 125 when measuring security.
FUNDESA, the foundation for Developing Guatemala, analyzed the World Economic Forum’s Global Enabling Trade Report 2010, in which most of the Latin American countries dropped several positions. Crime and violence was the main contributing factor in most of them, and all of Central America was ranked worse than in the 2009 edition.
Paying for armed custody, satellite tracking and “tolls” to armed gangs are some of the additional costs that must be paid when transporting goods in Central America.
Some transportation companies state that $14.000 must be paid each year in security related costs for a single truck carrying goods within the Central American region.
An executive from a Costa Rican company with regional operations confirmed that they pay an $80 toll to Guatemalan gangs to ensure safe circulation within that country’s capital city.