US anti-drug efforts shift traffickers to Caribbean

US anti-drug efforts shift traffickers to Caribbean
By JACQUELINE CHARLES
The Miami HeraldJune 29, 2014

For years, Caribbean governments have voiced concerns that U. S. counter-narcotics efforts in Mexico and Central America would force drug traffickers back into their region to push their products on go-fast boats and cargo ships.

Those fears are being realized as a top State Department official said the U.S. is concerned about disturbing increases in drugs flowing through the Caribbean over the past three years.

"I do not wish to suggest that the amount of product flowing through the Caribbean even remotely approaches the levels of Central America and Mexico," said William Brownfield, assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs. "The disturbing thing is the trend line."

Vice President Joe Biden this month visited the Dominican Republic, where the drug trade was a leading topic with President Danilo Medina.

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