Counternarcotics and Law Enforcement Country Program: Nicaragua

Challenges

Although not a drug-producing country, Nicaragua is a major transit country for drugs moving northward to the United States by land, sea, and air. Major trafficking routes are found on both coasts and drugs pass through the country on the Pan American Highway. The isolation of the country’s Atlantic Coast (where drug trafficking and consumption are highest), its vulnerable banking system, its endemic poverty, and the fact that many in the population remain well-armed from the 1980s civil war, all make Nicaragua a rich target for drug traffickers.

The Government of Nicaragua (GON) is making a determined effort to fight both the domestic use of illegal drugs and the international narcotics trade, but the Nicaraguan National Police (NNP) and the Nicaraguan Armed Forces require U.S. Government help to make significant gains against the well-financed and well-armed drug traffickers. The Nicaraguan National Assembly still has not passed new legislation on money laundering that would set up an operational, technically capable Commission of Financial Analysis to help the banking sector identify and track suspicious deposits over $10,000.

• Improve the capacity of the NNP to combat terrorism, corruption, and narcotics trafficking. 
  
  
• Improve immigration controls, and public support for these controls, to reduce the risk of terrorists obtaining fraudulent Nicaraguan immigration documents or using lax border controls to transit Nicaragua en route to the United States. 
  
  
• Improve GON oversight of the financial sector to reduce the likelihood that money launderers and corrupt officials will use Nicaraguan banks for their illicit financial transactions. 
  
  
• Support training and equipping the police and military to carry out interdiction operations against narcotraffickers.

Border Control Enhancement. The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) have focused on strengthening Nicaragua’s border controls and enhancing the GON interdiction capabilities. INL suggested and funded the NNP mobile inspection unit (MIU) to establish checkpoints at random locations on the Pan American highway. The MIU, which is complemented by an INL-funded canine unit, has been highly successful and has made a number of noteworthy seizures. On the maritime front, INL has provided the GON with "fast boats" (usually refurbished former drug boats) to patrol both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. INL has also refurbished several larger patrol boats to enable the Nicaraguan Navy to remain at sea for longer periods.

Law Enforcement Enhancement. INL and DEA have been working closely to increase the effectiveness of GON law enforcement. Working with the DEA office in Managua, the NNP seized significant amounts of cocaine and heroin. From December 2003 through November 2004, the NNP and DEA office in Managua conducted joint investigations that resulted in the capture of 63 kilograms of heroin and 6,250 kilograms of cocaine, al slight decrease in heroin seizures, but nearly a 600 percent increase in cocaine seizures over last year. The NNP, with INL help, is now developing a long range patrol capability that will enable it to maintain a presence at sea for days at a time.

INL supports the NNP narcotics forensic laboratory and will develop several satellite labs in the remote provinces.

Administration of Justice. From 2000-2003, with funding provided by INL and using expertise provided by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) in Guatemala, the NNP developed an Anti-Corruption Unit (UAC) to investigate cases of abuse of government power. The unit has contributed to cases that have resulted in a number of arrests for corruption and misuse of government funds. Since 2004, INL has funded a Resident Legal Advisor (RLA) in Managua to maintain support for an anti-corruption task force and to help the GON enhance its prosecutorial and investigative capabilities against public corruption.

Drug Awareness/Demand Reduction. Drug use has become a significant problem in Nicaragua, particularly on the Atlantic coast. Large quantities of cocaine float ashore from wrecked or fleeing drug boats, and some of this cocaine enters the local societies before it can be resold to middlemen. In other cases, Colombian drug smugglers prefer to pay for services "in kind," and this too enters the local market. INL has focused on the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, conducted by the NNP, but plans to develop special programs and teaching materials in English and in the various indigenous languages of the remote Atlantic coast.