UN: Violence, Gang Activity on the Rise in Caribbean
A new UN report paints an alarming picture of the crime surge in the
Caribbean, a trend that may escalate if drug trafficking groups come under increasing
pressure in Mexico and Central America.
The report, the first one released by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) to examine security in the Caribbean,
is the result of survey responses from some 11,555 citizens and interviews with
450 experts and politicians.
According to the study, every Caribbean country except for two (Barbados and Suriname) saw an increase in
homicide rates and gang-linked killings over the past 12 years.
The decline in security is especially evident in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Although Jamaica saw a seven-year low in homicides in
2011, the 1,124 homicides registered last year make the island the most violent
country in the Caribbean, with the third
highest homicide rate in the world (60 murders per 100,000 inhabitants).
While not as deadly, the homicide trend in Trinidad and Tobago is just as
alarming. Over the past decade the island country saw its murder rate increase
more than fivefold to 36 killings per 100,000 people, more than double the
average homicide rate of the Americas
at 15.6 per 100,000.
The rise in violence has accompanied an increase in gang-related
activity, the report finds. In 2009 officials estimated that about 35 percent
of killings in Trinidad and
Tobago were gang-related, up from 26 percent
in 2006. In Jamaica
the trend was even more pronounced, increasing from 33 to 48 percent in the
same period. According to UN researchers, there is a high correlation between
violence and gang membership, which is reflected in Jamaica. The island has the highest
number of gangs in the region, with 268 criminal bands on its streets, the
report says.
One question is how much the growth in gang activity has been fed by the
international drug trade. In the 1970s and '80s, the Caribbean was the primary
transit point for cocaine headed to the US,
until heightened security along the coast forced traffickers to turn to Mexico and Central America.
Now, it seems those days may return. Last August, the Miami Herald quoted
several US anti-drug
officials who predicted that security crackdowns in Mexico
and Central America will increase the flow of illicit drugs through the Caribbean in the coming years. In November, the State
Department’s top counternarcotics official, William Brownfield, echoed these
claims. Saying Mexican groups like the Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel are
"in the process of being chased out of Mexico,"
he warned that the old Caribbean routes are
looking more appealing to transnational drug traffickers. Law enforcement has
already documented the shift in such places as Puerto Rico,
Cuba, and Jamaica, where
drug seizures have increased dramatically in recent years.
One concern is that Caribbean gangs
will seek a piece of the action, potentially becoming major players in the
hemispheric drug trade. El
Salvador’s Mara Salvatrucha is reportedly attempting
such a transition, and subsequently may have made itself a prime threat to
security forces there. Fortunately, the UN report suggests that the region’s
gangs currently lack the organization to set up their own international export
routes. The exception is in Jamaica,
where large scale criminal organizations have a long history. These groups,
known as “posses,” are usually very hierarchical, and often associated with
local politics. If the flow of drugs through the Caribbean increases
dramatically, Jamaica
may be the country affected first.
Still, this is likely a long way off. The likely trigger for this
phenomenon, a successful security crackdown in Central America and Mexico, has not
yet proved to be a deal breaker for drug traffickers. The Mexican border is
still the primary entry point for drugs headed into the US, and drug cartels seem to be doubling down in
Central America. While the international drug
trade does represent a security threat to the Caribbean, in the near future
local groups are unlikely to become players as prominent or powerful as those
based in Mexico or Central America.
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