Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
So what is this initiative? I?m going to give you in the very barest outlines, my view of
what it is and then you will follow up undoubtedly with
questions which I will attempt to answer.
We?re into pillars.
The Merida Initiative was four pillars, there are seven countries in Central America, so
they deserve at least five pillars.
Here are the five that I suggest constitute the core of this initiative, this approach,
this policy, this strategy, call it what you wish.
First, for want of a better term safe streets. What does this mean?
This means that if a mother is terrified of allowing her children to go out and play outside
of the home, you obviously have a community security
problem.
You have to solve that problem at the retail level.
How can you give a community, a small society, sufficient confidence in their security that
they feel comfortable playing, living, working
in their own neighborhoods and in their own communities?
Second, disrupt the traffickers.
I have suggested to you, one of the two core threats to the institutions and to the states
of Central America are the trafficking organizations.
There must be an element that attacks them directly.
Whether it is interdiction, whether it is strengthened borders, whether it is eliminating
or at least reducing their ability to launder money or
transact financial crimes, there must be an element that
attacks the organizations themselves.
Third, is strong and accountable governments.
This in many ways is what we refer to, and have for thirty years, institution building.
The institutions, ladies and gentlemen, are not just law enforcement, although clearly
they are a key component to it.
It is also corrections and prosecutors.
It?s also courts.
It is all of the institutions that constitute the rule of law continuum in any country,
any society, and any community around the world.
And in essence the objective is to make each of those institutions sufficiently strong,
transparent, and accountable, that they not only can do
their job, but they have the respect and support of the
communities and societies that they serve.
Fourth, is strong communities.
Strong communities move us into what is the traditional economic and social development
sphere.
This is what development agencies do.
They do employment generation and business generation.
They build basic public services that makes them function.
They support education systems and healthcare systems that provide a community a core, and
a community?s citizens a stake in the future
of their own community and a desire to actually make
the institutions work because they see a future for themselves and their families in that
community.
The fifth pillar, I suggest to you, required by the circumstances that we deal with in
terms of resources, is enhanced cooperation.
Cooperation internally, by which I mean the seven governments of Central America, their
own institutions and capabilities to work among
themselves to address this regional threat.
But also cooperation in the external sense.
Cooperation among potential donors, governments, organizations, and NGOs to support the
strategy, policy, initiative, and effort in Central America.