Drug Gangs Imperil Democracy in Central America
Drug Gangs Imperil Democracy in Central America
COA's Eric Farnsworth writes in a letter to the Financial Times that drug-related violence in Central America "is not just a security threat, it is also a growing threat to democracy itself."
Sir, your focus on the drug threat in Central America is timely ("Central America’s dirty drug wars," July 26). But it is not just a security threat, it is also a growing threat to democracy itself.
The institutions of these mostly young, fragile democracies are being hollowed out, corrupted by drug traffickers and their allies. Impunity is rampant, and the police and security forces in several countries have been penetrated by the drug gangs. At some point, perhaps soon, it is conceivable that leaders who promise improved physical security and job creation without the niceties of democracy or a strict adherence to human rights will be elected. This would be a tangible setback, even as the hemisphere prepares to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the Inter-American Democratic Charter in September.
Outgoing Guatemalan president Alvaro Colom’s appeal for the creation of a Nato-style security force might be considered–the UN peacekeeping force in Haiti is one example that has largely proven successful. Other initiatives might include full vetting and retraining of new, professionalised police forces, and a regional, apolitical facility to receive and use wisely a temporary increase in taxes to pay for increased regional security costs.
Implementing these proposals, however, would require that Central American leaders compromise in the one area that has traditionally been the most difficult across the region: national sovereignty. Unless they work more closely together on these fundamentally intrusive issues–security and taxes–they will lose their sovereignty, ironically, to the drug cartels. By acting regionally, leaders have the best chance to build their societies sustainably for the longer term.
At the same time, the U.S. can do more to assist. Recent pledges of assistance are positive steps. Concerted domestic campaigns to reduce the demand for drugs north and the supply of weapons and illicit funds south, as well as better co-ordination with central American governments of deportations of hardened criminals fully versed in US gang culture, would also strongly support Central America’s own efforts against the cartels.
Eric Farnsworth is the vice president of Council of the Americas. He served in the White House from 1995 to 1998 as a senior advisor on hemispheric policy issues.
