14662: Burnham: Allegations of high level drug trafficking (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: thor burnham <thorald_mb@hotmail.com>

Posted by Thor Burnham:

Top Haitian police officials worked with drug traffickers, U.S. says

BY MARIKA LYNCH
Knight Ridder Newspapers

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/world/5078432.htm

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - (KRT) - Haiti is failing to curb the flow of drugs
across its shores, in part because traffickers have found allies in the
highest ranks of the Haitian National Police force, the U.S. government
said.

The White House declared Friday that Haiti - along with Guatemala and
Myanmar, also known as Burma - had "failed demonstrably" in the past year to
combat drug trafficking.

"Haiti remains a major transshipment point for drugs, primarily cocaine
moving from South America to the U.S. market," said Paul Simons, the acting
assistant secretary of State for international narcotics matters.

U.S. officials personally have asked President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to
remove several police officers after linking them to the cocaine trade, and
the government has canceled visas for nearly a dozen senior police and
lawmakers. One of those is a senior member of the Presidential Guard,
sources said.

So far, only one of the police officials has been removed, U.S. Ambassador
Brian Dean Curran told The Miami Herald.

"One senior official removed in a year does not constitute cooperation in
the fight against drugs," Curran said.

Haitian government officials called the accusations "a continuing part of
the American government's political war against the Aristide government,"
said Ira Kurzban, general counsel for Haiti. "Other than making those
assertions, the U.S. government has provided no facts to support them."

Curran declined to discuss the individual cases. But he said he expects more
visas to be revoked. Sources said at least one of the police officials was
caught among drug dealers as they dropped a shipment in Haiti, and others
were suspected leaks in an unsuccessful drug bust last fall.

In what was called Operation Hurricane II, U.S. drug enforcement agents and
Haitian police fanned across the country for a series of raids. But when
they showed up, the drugs were gone. Word had spread. The raids were
aborted, diplomatic sources said.

For both Haiti and Guatemala, the decision by the Bush administration on
Friday was mainly symbolic. U.S. law envisions a suspension of U.S. aid to
countries deemed uncooperative on narcotics unless the White House declares
it in the "national interest" to maintain the aid - a determination that
President Bush made for both Haiti and Guatemala.

Taking away U.S. funds for health projects in Haiti, which totaled $57
million last year, would only further affect Haiti's struggling economy and
breed conditions for more crime, U.S. officials said.

Washington must maintain aid flows to Guatemala, officials said, to
strengthen judicial and civil institutions, diversify the rural economy and
address environmental concerns. Suspension of aid, a White House statement
said, would weaken institutions "essential to combating the ever growing
influence of organized crime in Guatemala."

Kurzban said the decertification of Haiti is no surprise and he blamed the
United States for continuing problems in Haiti, saying U.S. funds intended
to help root out corruption and drug-trafficking have yet to be released.

The U.S. and Haitian governments signed a $650,000 agreement last year that
was to be used to train the ill-equipped and understaffed police force and
other efforts to combat drug trafficking.

"The United States has continued to have an embargo on the Haitian
government," Kurzban said. "How does one fight corruption in the police
force and train new police officers without the resources to do it? The U.S.
is, to a large extent, responsible for the current situation in Haiti."

Hours away by speed boat from South America, the Caribbean nation of 8
million has become an important transshipment point for cocaine, with at
least 8 percent of the drug headed for U.S. shores stopping in Haiti first.

In Friday's report, the government said Haiti again made the list because in
2002 the country failed to increase the number of arrests and seizures,
didn't beef up the struggling Haitian coast guard, and also continued to
politicize the Haitian National Police. Meanwhile, cocaine drops by light
aircraft increased.

The United States did note two positive developments: Haiti did let U.S.
Coast Guard boats enter its waters to chase traffickers, and it started a
financial intelligence unit to track assets of offenders.

With just three boats in the coast guard, the Haitian government has said it
doesn't have enough resources to ably fight trafficking on its shores.

Aristide, in an interview with The Miami Herald in December, said the U.S.
government should be doing more to help his country fight drugs.

But Curran said more aid won't be forthcoming unless Haiti removes those
allegedly involved in trafficking.

"Until you can trust the police, there is no way we can have a large
counter-narcotics operation in this country," Curran said. "There needs to
be a clear demonstration of political will - and not just political rhetoric
- to deal with drug trafficking in Haiti. We're prepared to respond with a
bigger program."









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