The Americas Post - Now Big Brother can see right through your clothes. Photo Credit: NYPD

It’s not just in the airport anymore.  The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is working in collaboration with the United States Department of Defense to control illegal firearms by deploying technology to detect concealed weapons carried by people walking down the street.

Using infrared rays, the system scans a “form of radiation emitted from the body” on a person carrying a gun on the city’s streets, New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced Tuesday at a State of the NYPD event.

Known as terahertz imaging detection, the technology functions on the basis that the rays cannot pass through metal, thereby creating a digital outline of any metal weapon gun people may be hiding.   It is reported to be capable of measuring energy radiating off a body from up to 16 feet away.

Kelly told attendees that the scanner would be used only when reasonable suspicious circumstances called for it and could decrease the frequency of stop-and-search incidents on the street.  The news, however, has raised concerns about privacy.

“It’s worrisome. It implicates privacy, the right to walk down the street without being subjected to a virtual pat-down by the Police Department when you’re doing nothing wrong,” the New York Civil Liberties Union’s Donna Lieberman told CBS New York.

According to NY Post reports, the scanners would be mounted on NYPD vans, with the rays aiming at people on the street.

The Americas Post - Drug trafficking accusations are no obstacle for the Chavez administration

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez this week appointed a new defense minister, described by the United States as a “drug kingpin” involved in cocaine smuggling from next-door Colombia.

“This good soldier, this humble soldier … this fighter for the people, today I publicly designate him as the new defense minister of the Republic,” Chavez announced while naming General Henry Rangel Silva to the post.

In 2008, the U.S. Treasury Department accused Rangel and another top Venezuelan officer of supporting narcotics trafficking operations by Colombian FARC guerrillas.  Both men denied any connection.

President Chavez  has repeatedly denied U.S. accusations that his government has turned a blind eye to drug trafficking.  He in turn accuses the United States of being a decadent empire that exploits developing countries.

The Venezuelan leader is expected to reshuffle his cabinet in the next few months to allow several of his current ministers to run in regional elections later this year.

Sharing a long border with Colombia, Venezuela has become a transshipment point for Colombian cocaine en route to consumer nations.  Chavez suspended cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 2005 when he accused its agents of spying and violating Venezuelan sovereignty.

He claims his administration has invested millions of dollars in anti-narcotic operations, pointing to the extradition of accused druglords to Colombia and an increase in drug-related arrests as proof of Venezuela’s efforts.

Diplomatic relations between Venezuela and the United States have been icy for years, in spite of the fact that South American nation still provides nearly 10 percent of US fuel imports.

In September, Washington accused four close Chavez allies of providing arms to FARC rebels in Colombia, a charge which Venezuela described as “abusive.”

The Americas Post - The Tijuana cartel leader got off with a lighter sentence than his underlings

Former drug capo Benjamin Arellano Felix pleaded guilty this week to federal racketeering and money-laundering conspiracy charges, putting an end to a long case against Mexico’s formerly most powerful organized crime group.

Arellano Felix, 58, the former leader of the Arellano Felix drug cartel, converted Tijuana into a major trafficking route to the U.S. during a 16-year run before his arrest in Mexico in 2002.

His group, also known as the Tijuana cartel, funneled tons of drugs into California, terrorized rivals, bribed Mexican law enforcement officials and financed luxurious lifestyles that became symbolic of Mexican organized crime.

According to the plea deal with federal prosecutors in San Diego, Arellano Felix admitted making hundreds of millions in profits, exchanging weapons for drugs from a rebel group in Colombia and training teams to assassinate competitors and witnesses.

Extradited from Mexico in April, he now faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, according to the agreement.   Under terms of the extradition agreement with Mexico Arellano Felix was not subject to the death penalty, but many expected him to receive a life sentence.

His organization introduced paramilitary tactics, including .50-caliber machine guns and armored cars with oil and smoke dispensers to evade arrest.
The cartel regularly used chemicals to dispose of enemies, dissolving bodies in vats of acid.

As part of the plea agreement, four of the five original charges were dismissed. Arellano Felix pleaded guilty to only two counts: racketeering and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. He also agreed to forfeit $100 million, according to the agreement.

The U.S. attorney for San Diego, Laura Duffy, called the case historic.

“Arellano-Felix led the most violent criminal organization in this part of the world for two decades. Today’s guilty plea marks the end of his reign of murder, mayhem and corruption, and his historic admission of guilt sends a clear message to the Mexican cartel leaders operating today: The United States will spare no effort to investigate, extradite, and prosecute you for your criminal activities.”

The Americas Post - Plane? What plane? Oh, you mean THAT plane...

An American military aircraft helped monitor the deadly 2010 raid by Jamaican security forces to capture a fugitive crime boss, that country’s prime minister has admitted, in spite of earlier denials by his government.

The U.S. P-3 Orion provided aerial surveillance of the operation to arrest Christopher “Dudus” Coke, Prime Minister Andrew Holness told reporters on Thursday.   The raid ignited a vicious battle in a West Kingston slum that left over 70 dead.

Holness insisted that the U.S. played no other role in the raid in the Tivoli Gardens neighborhood.  ”We would want to reaffirm our position that the U.S. Government or its military did not participate in the operations in West Kingston,” he said.

His statement came just one day after National Security Minister Dwight Nelson claimed that the U.S. had not provided any surveillance of the raid, in spite of a report in The New Yorker magazine.

Holness said that Nelson made the statement in error because he was unaware of the U.S. assistance. Prior official statements had also denied any U.S. role in the raid. The prime minister said the surveillance was coordinated between the Jamaican Defense Force and the “relevant government agency” in the U.S.

“The United States Government initially made an offer to provide surveillance and technical equipment,” he said. “We accepted and followed the normal protocol of exchanging diplomatic notes to provide the government-to-government cover for such assistance.”

Ocsar Derby, director of Jamaica’s Civil Aviation Authority, said Friday that officials with the island’s Defense Force had notified him the U.S. craft would carry out a surveillance mission.

“We made sure to keep other aircraft away from the area,” he said.

The hunt for Coke in his West Kingston slum stronghold provoked fighting that killed 73 civilians and three security officers over the next four days. He was finally arrested by Jamaican authorities and extradited to the U.S., where he pleaded guilty in August to racketeering and assault charges. Coke faces up to 23 years in prison when he is sentenced.

The protection of intellectual property rights (IPR, e.g., fighting piracy, counterfeiting, and contraband) has been a U.S. concern. The Duarte government made significant efforts to improve IPR protection, but the United States Trade Representative maintains that the country continues to have problems due to its porous border and ineffective prosecutions. In 2003, U.S. and Paraguayan officials signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to strengthen legal protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in Paraguay. In December 2007, the MOU was revised and extended through 2009, and in November 2009 the agreement was extended again through 2011.45

U.S. Assistance

The United States provided about $13.1 million in foreign assistance to Paraguay in FY2008 and an estimated $26.1 million in FY2009.46 The increase in FY2009 was due to a one-time addition of $10 million for health and economic growth assistance resulting from the October 2008 meeting between President Lugo and former President Bush.

Under the Obama Administration’s FY2010 request, Paraguay would receive $13.9 million in assistance, with $2.1 million to support Global Health and Child Survival, $5.8 million in Development Assistance, $425,000 in International Military Education and Training, $750,000 for Foreign Military Financing, $500,000 in International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement assistance, and $4.3 million for the continuation of a Peace Corps program in the country, with approximately 200 volunteers.

In 2009, the Department of Defense also provided Paraguay one-time security and stabilization assistance authorized under Section 1207 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). In FY2009, Paraguay received a total of $6.69 million in “Section 1207” funding divided between counternarcotics and development accounts to support democratic consolidation and reduce violence in eastern Paraguay during the country’s transition from one-party rule to multi-party democracy.47

In addition to regular foreign assistance funding, Paraguay signed a $34.65 million Threshold Program agreement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in May 2006. Those funds, which are administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), are targeted to strengthen the rule of law and build a transparent business environment.48 The program has been credited with reducing the time it takes to start a business in Paraguay by half, among other accomplishments. In May 2009, the USAID-administered program was renewed with the signing of a second two-year MCC Threshold program for $30.3 million.49 The program supports anti-corruption efforts by Paraguay’s government in law enforcement, customs, health care, and judicial sectors. The MCC program also aims to increase public support for anti-corruption efforts.50 Paraguay also signed an agreement with the United States in 2006 under the Tropical Forest Conservation Act that provided Paraguay with $7.4 million in debt relief in exchange for the Paraguayan government’s commitment to conserve and restore tropical forests in the southeastern region.

Counternarcotics Cooperation

Paraguay is a major transit country for illegal drugs destined primarily for neighboring South American states and Europe. It produces over half of the marijuana grown in South America. The Chaco region in the northwestern part of the country adjacent to Bolivia is a major transshipment point for illegal drugs, along with the tri-border area (TBA) with neighboring Argentina and Brazil. A 1987 U.S.-Paraguay bilateral counternarcotics agreement was extended in 2006.

U.S. counternarcotics efforts in Paraguay have focused on providing training, equipment and technical assistance to strengthen the country’s National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD), and to combat money laundering and corruption. The United States assisted in the completion of a helicopter pad and support facilities for SENAD. According to the State Department’s February 2009 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, SENAD continued to make progress against illegal narcotics trafficking in 2008 with record seizures of marijuana, although cocaine seizures were markedly down. The report notes that President Lugo has said he wants to reverse Paraguay’s status as a “major drug transit country.” Currently, SENAD agents are civil servants and they are not issued weapons. The Paraguayan Senate rejected a bill that would have made the SENAD an autonomous institution with the power to regulate its agents as law enforcement agents who can carry and use weapons. The bill had passed the Chamber of Deputies. This defeat is considered by some to be a major setback. Finally, INCSR notes that SENAD’s work is limited by budget constraints, weak laws and pervasive corruption. After President Evo Morales of Bolivia kicked out the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in late 2008, 10 of the 56 agents working in that country were redeployed to Paraguay in early 2009.51

In April 2009, bills entitled the “U.S.-Paraguay Partnership Act of 2009” were introduced in the House (H.R. 1837) and Senate (S. 780). On September 14, 2009, the ATPDEA Expansion and Extension Act of 2009 (S. 1665) was introduced in the Senate.52 Each of these bills would amend the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (Title XXXI of the Trade Act of 2002, P.L. 107-210) to extend trade preferences to Paraguay. Currently, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru benefit from the ATPDEA in exchange for cooperation under anti-narcotics agreements.53 Bolivia lost its eligibility for the program in 2008 when the Bush Administration determined that Bolivia no longer met the anti-narcotics cooperation requirements.

Tri-Border Area and Terrorism

The United States is particularly concerned about illicit activities in the tri-border area (TBA) of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil, where money laundering, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, and trade in counterfeit and contraband goods are prevalent. The tri-border region is loosely controlled due to porous borders, a lack of surveillance, weak law enforcement and pervasive local corruption, especially in the Paraguayan border city of Ciudad del Este. The United States has worked closely with the governments of the TBA countries on counterterrorism issues through the “3+1” regional cooperation mechanism, which serves as a forum for discussions, and the United States has provided anti-terrorism and anti-money-laundering support to Paraguay.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent a team of specialists to the tri-border region to investigate trade-based money laundering in 2006, and has assisted the Paraguayan government in developing a Trade Transparency Unit to examine discrepancies in trade data in order to detect customs fraud, trade-based money laundering or the financing of terrorism.54

U.S. Treasury officials have held workshops in the region to encourage more banking sector involvement in efforts against money laundering. The U.S. embassy’s legal adviser in Asunción held training courses for local investigators and prosecutors to combat possible terrorism links.55

The United States has been concerned for a number of years that the radical Lebanon-based Hezbollah and the Sunni Muslim Palestinian group Hamas have used the TBA to raise funds from the region’s sizable Muslim communities by participating in illicit activities and soliciting donations. Nevertheless, according to the State Department’s annual terrorism report for 2008 (issued in April 2009), there is no corroborated information that these or other Islamic extremist groups have an operational presence in the TBA.

The State Department’s 2008 terrorism report stated although Paraguay was generally cooperative on counterterrorism efforts, its judicial system is weak and politicized, the police force is widely viewed as ineffective and corrupt, and the country lacks strong anti-money laundering and terrorist financing legislation. In June 2008, Paraguay’s Congress improved money laundering legislation as part of a major overhaul of the penal code. However, according to the terrorism report, a bill to enact important criminal procedure reform to prosecute money laundering and terrorism was delayed for a year by the Congress’s Legal Reform Commission. Effective terrorist financing legislation will be critical to keep Paraguay current with its international obligations.

The terrorism report also maintained that Paraguay did not exercise effective immigration or customs control on its borders. Efforts to address illicit activity in the TBA were uneven because of a lack of resources, and corruption within customs, police, and the judiciary. With U.S. support, the government’s Secretariat for the Prevention of Money Laundering reportedly made progress against money laundering, including December 2008 raids on illegal exchange houses.

Under the MCC Threshold Program, the United States provided assistance with the training of judges, prosecutors and police in investigation techniques critical to money laundering and terrorist cases.

Paraguay made some progress on counterterrorism legislation in 2009. The Paraguayan Congress passed a measure in July 2009 that modifies the anti-money laundering law. The passed bill empowers the Secretariat for the Prevention of Money Laundering (SEPRELAD) in several ways. It elevates the agency to the level of a ministry that reports directly to the President, it broadens its capacity to require Suspicious Transaction Reports from a wider group of financial institutions, and it increases SEPRELAD’s power to audit financial institutions to ensure their procedures are adequate to prevent money laundering. In addition, the Executive has initiated legislation that would criminalize the offences of terrorism, terrorist association and terrorist financing. Attempts to gain the approval of Congress on such legislation were made in 2007, November 2009, and December 2009. In December 2009, President Lugo withdrew the counterterrorism legislation that would modify some aspects of the criminal code over objections raised by human rights organizations who argued that the new legislation threatened the international protection of human rights and may undermine freedom of assembly and freedom of speech. Paraguayan authorities, however, remain optimistic that a modified initiative may pass later in 2010.56

June S. Beittel is analyst in Latin American Affairs (UNACE) for CRS. Parts of this report were contributed by Mark P. Sullivan, Specialist in Latin American Affairs. This report was published by the Congressional Research Service under the title “Paraguay: Political and Economic Conditions and U.S. Relations,”

The Americas Post - Mexicans appreciate fine German workmanship

The factory of German arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch was raided on Thursday by some 300 German agents, on suspicion of bribery related to the sale of weapons to Mexico in 2005.

Authorities in Stuttgart confirmed that the search, which included the homes of some employees, was for evidence of bribes paid to Mexican officials for approval of arms contracts over several years.  The accusations include some German officials who prosecutors allege were also bribed.

For years investigators have suspected the German company of exporting arms to four states in Mexico “with violent internal conflicts”, in violation of German law.  Authorities did not specify who the recipients of the weapons were.  In January the Economics Ministry suspended all exports from that factory to Mexico.

Heckler & Koch was previously accused of violating an embargo on arms exports to Libya.  The company has always denied any role in illegal sales, but declined to comment on the latest accusations.

Other current customers include the German police and military, as well as other NATO countries.

The Americas Post - Dominican police respond to demonstrators throwing bottles and rocks. Photo: KINT News

Amnesty International released a highly critical report on Tuesday, saying the national police force kills and tortures with impunity in the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican national police were responsible for 15 percent of violent deaths recorded annually in the Dominican Republic from 2005 to 2010, according to the report.  The London-based human rights group said police abuse in the Caribbean nation has accompanied increased violent crime due to drug trafficking, the spread of firearms and worsening poverty rates.

With a population of 10 million, the Dominican Republic shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with Haiti.  The National Police said 2,367 people had been killed by its officers from 2005 through 2010, according to the report.

The report blamed “hardline policing methods” for contributing to escalating violence and crime instead of reducing it, as a result of inadequate government oversight and reforms.

“At the heart of the failure to implement effective reforms and ensure that Dominicans have the effective policing that they need is a lack of political will,” the report said.  ”Those in power have failed to confront those with a vested interest in maintaining the current system in which corruption is deeply rooted and human rights abuses by the police are pervasive.”

In addition to what it described as widespread police torture of criminal suspects, Amnesty said there was evidence to suggest that some killings by the police were so-called “extrajudicial executions.”  There was no immediate response to the report from the Dominican government or police.

As recently as April 2011, Interpol secretary general Ronald Noble congratulated the Santo Domingo police force for being “one of the best in the world”.

The Americas Post - Jamaican soldiers frisk for weapons at a checkpoint. Photo credit: AP

Times are changing for many islands across the Caribbean, where escalating arms races between criminal gangs are turning previously peaceful neighborhoods into free-fire zones.

The two-island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, with a population of 50,000 people, has tallied 31 homicides already in 2011, marking their deadliest year on record. Gangs with names like Killer Mafia Soldiers and Tek Life are blamed by police for the increase in violence.

Usually out of the sight of tourists, revenge shootings by heavily armed gangmembers are now common in the Caribbean, according to a new U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime report on global homicides.

Politicians across the Caribbean are under pressure to attack the problem. In Trinidad and Tobago, located off Venezuela’s coast on a major drug shipment route, the government has declared a state of emergency, imposed nightly curfews and given police and the military wide authority for conducting search and seizure.

So far the violence has had little effect on Caribbean tourism, which relies on about 6 million American visitors each year. Many stay at all-inclusive resorts, and few venture into poverty-stricken slums where the violence is concentrated.

Drug traffickers have driven up crime rates with firearms and narcotics whose street value exceeds the size of the Caribbean’s entire legal economy.

Although with miles of isolated coastline the islands remain ideal for drug shipments, the U.N. crime office reports Caribbean drug seizures actually diminished 71 percent between 1997 and 2009, as traffic shifted to Central American routes.   According to the agency, the increase in violence is the result of fierce competition between criminal groups fighting over their share of the shrinking drug smuggling market.

Caribbean experts are concerned about the growing culture of violence on the islands, where almost 70 percent of homicides are now committed with firearms.

“Until fairly recently, we had an innocence about ourselves in the Caribbean, but that’s been lost. This thing is a Pandora’s Box and I’m not sure you can ever close it again,” said  Caribbean Drug & Alcohol Research Institute director Marcus Day, in St. Lucia.

Jamaica, with roughly 3 million people and hit hard by drugs and extortion  for years, had 1,428 killings in 2010.   In comparison Chicago, a city with almost the same population, reported 435 homicides last year.

U.N. crime office statistics show homicide rates increasing by nearly 100% in numerous Caribbean countries since 1995.  In St. Kitts and Nevis, slayings have increased by a factor of six since 2002, when there were just five murders.

Susana Martinez was the only US governor to attend

Governors along the U.S.-Mexico border agreed on Thursday to study the possibility of shared databases to exchange suspect DNA and other biometric data in order to curb the flow of guns and drugs between the two countries.

The agreement was announced at the end of an annual conference of regional leaders from both sides of the border, which this year failed to attract many chief executives.

New Mexico’s Republican governor Susana Martinez was the only U.S. governor who attended, along with three governors (out of six invited) from the Mexican side.  Texas governor and US presidential candidate Rick Perry did not attend, nor did his state sign the final agreement.

Drug-related violence has skyrocketed along the border in the last few years, as the Mexican government, with U.S. backing, confronts powerful cartels smuggling narcotics, illegal immigrants and weapons across the 2,000-mile long zone.

“The hope is that every convicted criminal (deported from the United States) will return with biometric information that follows him back into Mexico,” said Baja California governor Jose Osuna.  That data could then be used by Mexican authorities to fight crime, he said.

As Mexican President Felipe Calderon points out, voracious U.S. drug consumers are partly responsible for the violence, which has killed more than 42,000 people in Mexico during his five years in office.

Calderon has also complained about the flow of U.S. guns across the border, including high-powered assault weapons used in the drug battles that are becoming a daily occurrence.

The Governors at the meeting called on U.S. officials to better track weapon sales and expressed support for President Barack Obama’s efforts to stem the flow of guns.

Nearly three decades old, the annual conference is designed to soothe tensions along the busy dividing line.  Last year, Arizona Republican Governor Jan Brewer canceled after her Mexican counterparts protested that state’s tough immigration laws. This year she declined again at the last minute, claiming she had to attend to “pressing state government business”.