Drug lords are Caribbean's greatest threat - US official

MIAMI (CMC):

The head of the United States Southern Command here has identified transnational criminal organisations as the greatest threat to security in the Caribbean.

Speaking at a conference on security at the University of Miami's Centre for Hemispheric Policy, General Douglas Fraser said besides drug trafficking, criminal gangs in the region are also involved in arms smuggling, people smuggling and bulk cash flows across borders.

"The traffickers are well-financed and very capable," he said.

Fraser also stated that the Southern Command has been focusing on detecting and monitoring the transport of drugs in the Caribbean and also on how best to support its regional military partners, who have been pulled into the fight against the drug cartels.

The cost of fighting the drug traffickers and economic disruptions, he said, is "a tax on society".

While an estimated 35,000 deaths have been attributed to criminal gang-related violence in Mexico alone over the past five years, Fraser noted that there have been 67,000 homicides in Central America, which he has called the "deadliest zone in the world" outside Iraq and Afghanistan.