Belize in Support of US Regional Drug Fight Despite CARICOM Unease

Minister of Foreign Affairs Francis Fonseca says that Belize supports efforts by the United States to combat narco-trafficking in the region. On Tuesday, the Trump administration ordered a military strike on a boat that left Venezuela, allegedly carrying illicit cargo. The boat, which was in the Caribbean Sea, had 11 people on board who all died during the operation. Foreign Minister Fonseca says that while there are concerns within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) about the US government’s military presence in the region, the transnational drug trade is a greater threat.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Foreign Affairs: “Belize is very committed to working with our international partners including the United States government on combatting any criminal illicit activity along our borders or in the region. We’re always very concerned as a government about narco trafficking, human trafficking, so we are already working with many different countries, Mexico, the United States, even Guatemala we work with them to combat these threats to our national security. So we are absolutely prepared to welcome any effort to tackle narco trafficking in our region. It’s a real threat to the social fabric of our country, our economic development, to our national security. At the same time of course the Caribbean we’re very proud of the fact that in the Caribbean we have been a zone of peace. We have always lauded that in our meetings, CARICOM meetings,  you know we talked about that quite a bit. So I know that within our CARICOM community there is concern about what is taking place. I think the issue is really more about communication, finding out more about what is taking place. So we’ve had that discussion in CARICOM and CARICOM is seeking to engage with the United States government so that we can be better informed about exactly what they are doing and what they have planned because our commitment is to ensure that the Caribbean remains a zone of peace.”

CARICOM Foreign Ministers have drafted a letter to send to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, requesting information about the country’s plans with respect to military deployment in the Caribbean. The US is not a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.