Central America seeking alternatives to war on drugs

Guatemala is not satisfied with the decades long “war on drugs” and is taking the lead in finding new ways to combat trafficking and violence.

The  country’s president, Otto Perez Molina,  who took office in January,  has invited six regional presidents  to a meeting in the Guatemalan city of Antigua on Saturday and has invited the private sector to participate and contribute ideas to the discussion of new ways to combat trafficking in Central America, where the  current strategy has not been successful he said in Panama on Wednesday, March 21. 

"There may be other ways to successfully confront drug trafficking and violence" he told entrepreneurs from 30 countries at the international fair Expocomer XXX where he was the opening guest speaker alongside Panama’s president, Ricardo Martinelli. 

Perez Molina, has previously proposed a regional dialogue on the decriminalization of drugs as a way to stop extreme violence generated in Central America, a region that is  an input bridge for drugs consumed in the United States. The suggestion received a cool “wait and see what the othere do" reception in Panama.

He sees the Saturday meeting as a space to "discuss the results of current regional  policies on drugs” “to see if  the control strategies have worked  or if it's time to make changes and look for new alternatives, and new mechanisms to address drug trafficking and its economic and social effects. “In Guatemala "we are not satisfied with the results"  of the combat mechanisms applied for several decades in Central America, said Perez Molina.