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Column 121911 Brewer

Monday, December 19, 2011 Latin American Democracies Must Unite against Threats By Jerry Brewer Although there are those political aspirants that seek higher office with a platform of ignoring neighboring allies and nations engulfed in violence, carnage, and leftist government excessive human rights violations, Latin America's democracies must not acquiesce to strong-arming tactics. The not in my backyard defense of complacency is morally wrong when it comes to not valuing and respecting the true value and gift of human life. When reality graphically exhibits daily accounts of the massive numbers of those killed and overrun with impunity throughout the Americas, where is the unity in defense of the rule of law and applied justice? Mexico is marred by what is currently described, officially, as over 42,000 narco-related killings. Beheadings, hangings, reports of hooded men dumping bodies on busy highways and mass body dump site incidents throughout Mexico have historically launched civil wars in other nations. As well, the insurgencies, attacks and murders of journalists and social media persons throughout the hemisphere reek of past cold war relics. Central America has the highest homicide rate in the world. El Salvador has recorded at least 4,005 homicides this year, exceeding the previous year's numbers to date. Honduras reports that up to 20 people a day are being murdered, thus setting new records. Plus, there are thousands of people still missing throughout the Americas. What are the roots of the massive death tolls and

continued threats? Clearly, and to a great extent, they are due to insurgent-like guerrilla groups - many of which facilitate drug trafficking, and too they seek operating territory while overpowering law enforcement and political efforts to combat them. Criminal gangs entrenched in armed robbery, kidnappings for ransom and extortion, murder for hire, sexual assault and other crimes contribute significantly to the death rates. Mexico's ruthless drug cartel known as Los Zetas has boldly proclaimed, "We are in control here, and although the federal government controls other cartels they cannot take our plazas. Not the Army, not the Marines, nor can the security and anti-drug agencies of the United States government resist us." On another recent note their disclaimers minimized their previous message, written on banners in Nuevo Laredo, that read "We do not govern this country, nor do we have a regime; we are not terrorists or guerrillas. We concentrate on our work and the last thing we want is to have problems with any government; neither Mexico nor much less with the US." However, their actions have consistently demonstrated the opposite of their confused rhetoric with head-on confrontations with Mexico's police and military, and the murdering of mayors, media, politicians and other officials. As well, they have boldly crossed borders into the U.S., plus they operate in Central America, virtually controlling "the entire extension of the Mexico-Guatemala border." The caveat that these violent drug gangs are the primary prolific nemesis of democratic governments within the hemisphere is also misleading. Logistically speaking, these organized criminal insurgents need weapons, a means to launder money, facilitate movement, a market to corrupt officials, and regimes that will overlook their actions for unspecified remuneration. Bolivia's representative to the United Nations Office

on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has stated that traffickers trying to ship cocaine from Bolivia into Brazil or Argentina frequently travel first through Paraguay. Most of the drug planes discovered so far this year were found in Bolivia's eastern department of Santa Cruz. An anomaly of thoughts and inaction is demonstrated with the fact that Bolivia and Paraguay have "signed at least seven border security pacts since 1991, but the treaties have yet to translate into noticeable security improvements." The leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales, a former coca leaf union leader, recently announced a lack of equipment and technology, but then again his throwing out, and prohibiting the U.S. DEA to operate in Bolivia, is food for thought. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez did the same; followed by Ecuador President Rafael Correa's refusal to allow the operational continuation of US drug interdiction flights from his nation's Manta air base. A DEA official reported to the US Senate that "both Mexican and Colombian traffickers have increased their presence in Bolivia." The DEA said that "it was difficult to identify these criminal groups, partly because the agency hasn't had any field presence in Bolivia since 2008 when Morales expelled the agency." Bolivia's top drug official said that some Bolivian groups have made contact with the Zetas, and Bolivian authorities have arrested Mexicans on drug trafficking charges. Deteriorating security from the U.S. border and most points south to Argentina is alarming. Nations have militarized their policing due to necessity in war-like confrontations. It is time for free nations along the route to unite as a whole to save their homelands from terror and facilitation by inaction, as well as deliberate acts of government subterfuge in complicity. ---------Jerry Brewer is C.E.O. of Criminal Justice International Associates, a global threat mitigation

firm headquartered in northern Virginia. His website is located at http://www.cjiausa.org/.

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