One problem identified by the newly-created Organised Crime Investigation Division appears to have been the merger of gangs into stronger and better organised units. The National Security Council has launched a review of the social intervention programmes which were supposed to have supported the action of the police but did not fully materialise. National security minister Peter Phillips told the press that the government had not abandoned a bill, now before parliament, to grant the military some police powers.
NICARAGUA | Disarmament plan flops. A Nicaraguan plan to eliminate its arsenal of 2,000 SAMs as part of a `balanced' subregional arms-reduction scheme fell through when Honduras refused to consider cutting its fleet of F5s as a counterpart, insisting that their purpose is purely defensive. The Central American foreign ministers meeting in Belize to discuss common security concerns were only able to agree on aiming at a `reasonable balance of power [as] a general concept.'
Nicaragua is under heavy US pressure to decommission its SAMs, which Washington considers at risk of falling into the hands of terrorists. Nicaragua reported its stocks of SAMs to the US, at Washington's request, in the wake of the September 2001 attacks.
The US also wants all of Central America to eschew conventional armies in favour of smaller forces designed to deal with the `new' security threats, such as terrorism, drug trafficking, gunrunning and people-trafficking. The rationale for this was outlined publicly in June by the US State Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere, Daniel Fisk, in an address to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Over the past month, the disarmament message was delivered personally to Nicaragua by General Richard Myers, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, whereas Honduras received a push from the US Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.
End of preview - This article contains approximately 389 words.
Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article
Not a Subscriber?
Choose from one of the following options
