Looking for more sophisticated ways to fight soaring drug trafficking, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urged Caribbean nations to form a network that snares narcotics cartels.
"Our goal is to construct a web of legal arrangements and law enforcement actions that will discourage international criminals from acting, and leaving no place to hide if they do," she said Monday after meeting 15 Caribbean foreign ministers.They discussed a witness protection program, arms smuggling and money laundering, an especially sensitive issue among resource-strapped islands that have turned to offshore banking.
"The Caribbean must make a choice: Either you live on drug money and money laundering, or you restructure your economy," said Ramesh L. Maraj, attorney general of Trinidad and Tobago, which plans to open an offshore banking industry.
His country is Washington's strongest ally in the region and led the way in signing a controversial agreement two years ago allowing U.S. law enforcers to pursue suspected drug traffickers into its airspace and waters.
The 15-member Caribbean Community urged Trinidadian officials to nullify the agreement, arguing it robbed the nation of its sovereignty.
Maraj offered the same argument as Albright, explaining in an interview: "The question was whether to save the sovereignty of Trinidad and Tobago by pooling it with other countries, or allow the sovereignty of Trinidad and Tobago to be taken over by drug barons."
Albright went further Monday, discussing an alliance of all nations fighting drugs in the Caribbean, including Britain, the Netherlands and France.
Officials estimate that at least 40 percent of U.S.-bound drugs from South America pass through the Caribbean. The region's leaders fear that Washington's interest in pursuing drug traffickers overrides its willingness, or ability, to increase trade opportunities.
At a summit in Barbados a year ago with President Clinton, the Caribbean contingent hailed Clinton's agreement to tie the drug fight to economic development. He promised to fight for more trade privileges for Caribbean goods, especially textiles. The Caribbean has lost thousands of garment industry jobs to Mexico, the U.S. partner in NAFTA along with Canada.