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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 9:44 pm
Time: 9:44 pm
Results for border security (central america)
1 results foundAuthor: Espach, Ralph Title: Border Insecurity in Central America's Northern Triangle Summary: The recent surge in drug trafficking and violent crime in Central America has drawn a spotlight to the perennial problem of lawlessness along the borders of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Throughout their histories, governments in these countries have neglected their peripheries, especially the jungle-covered region along the Caribbean coast, across the Peten and Yucatan high plains that border Mexico, and within the central mountain chain. Those communities, isolated due to their difficult topography and, in many cases, their ethnic differences, generally remain impoverished and isolated from national services or politics. Today, these borders are unmarked and largely unrecognized across most of their length. Public security and military forces can only afford to monitor borders in urban areas or at points where major highways cross. Away from these spots, borders are by and large meaningless except for the opportunities they present for residents to arbitrage differences in the supply, demand, and costs of various goods and services, including some that are illegal. Indeed, illicit trafficking provides income, and border communities appear to be benefiting economically from the recent surge in drug trafficking through the region. Governments regularly announce new policies to address border insecurity, but these rarely have any impact - for several reasons, including: A chronic and region wide shortage of funding, reflecting these countries' deficient tax systems; Weak, dysfunctional government institutions, particularly in the area of public security; Periodic changes in border security strategies and policies, due to the lack of independent administrative agencies; Corruption within legislatures, local and national government agencies, and security forces that allow organized criminal groups and their partners to influence and stymie policymaking. We recommend that the governments of the region and their international partners refocus their efforts in the following ways: Differentiate, conceptually and strategically, among the problems of illicit trafficking, organized crime, and violence, and tailor policies and strategies to priorities; Focus on improving public security within border communities and border regions, instead of border controls; Create new, functional national and regional security frameworks to support interagency and international coordination on public security and border security; Improve systems for information sharing and coordination; Involve local governments in security-related policymaking and policy execution. Details: Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute, 2012. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 23, 2012 at: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/RMSG-NorthernTriangle.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Central America URL: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/RMSG-NorthernTriangle.pdf Shelf Number: 126948 Keywords: Border Security (Central America)Drug TraffickingOrganized Crime |