Policy Issues
Security
Members of the coast guard and marine police from various OECS nations receive training from US Navy divers
The United States and the nations of the Eastern Caribbean are partnering to combat the drug trade and other transnational crime that threatens regional security. This shared security partnership fulfills a commitment to deepen regional security cooperation that President Barack Obama made at the Fifth Summit of the Americas, held in Port of Spain, Trinidad in April 2009. All U.S. international security assistance is carefully coordinated to ensure that policy objectives support U.S. foreign policy goals of promoting democracy and protecting human rights
The Caribbean region, being a major transit corridor for illicit drugs, has drawn the attention and efforts of multiple agencies in the United States. Each cooperates to support Caribbean governments to:
- Strengthen the ability of law enforcement and judicial authorities in both source and transit countries to investigate and prosecute major drug trafficking organizations and their leaders
- Build interdiction capabilities, eradication, sustainable alternative development, demand reduction
- Bolster capacities of partner countries through multilateral, regional, and country-specific programs
- Strengthen criminal justice systems to counter the flow of illegal narcotics, minimizing transnational crime
- Identify, disrupt and dismantle the major drug trafficking organizations operating in the Caribbean
- Expand educational, social, and workforce development opportunities for at-risk youth and their communities as an alternative to crime and other harmful behavior
- Enhance border security
- Prevent trafficking in persons
- Thwart money laundering and other financial crimes, including the seizure and blocking of criminal assets
- Track and stop the illicit trafficking of weapons
Under the President’s Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, more than US$139million has already been provided to the region.
United States Naval program Navy Diver-Southern Partnership
The United States Naval program Navy Diver-Southern Partnership Station is a multinational partnership engagement designed to increase interoperability and partner nation capacity through diving operations.
Through this multi-faceted response, the United States develops and synchronizes drug and crime assistance with the collaboration of: