Security & Strategic Review - March 2012 (ISSN 1741-4202)

The immediate top priority the US Southern Command (Southcom) has set itself in its role as ‘the lead US agency responsible for directing illicit trafficking detection and monitoring activities’ is ‘strengthening the security capacities of our partners in Central America’. This reflects the appreciation that this subregion, a key transshipment zone for illicit trafficking, is where organised crime has ‘most acutely [...] evolved into a volatile and potentially destabilising threat to both citizen and regional security.’