The Americas Post » Prevention

Colombia and Peru team up against organized crime

tlc — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:00:50 +0000

The Americas Post - This bridge is covered, but what about the other 1,600 kilometers?

Colombia and Peru have agreed upon a plan to combat criminal organizations on their common border, the defense ministers of the two countries announced to the press after a Wednesday meeting in Bogota.

“Colombia and Peru have decided to aggressively confront organized crime which respects no borders, such as drug trafficking and illegal logging and mining,” said Peruvian Defense Minister Alberto Otalora. He spoke at a press conference accompanied by his Colombian host and counterpart, Juan Carlos Pinzón.

“Organized criminals on our borders are hereby notified that Colombia and Peru, as of this moment, will increase joint activities not only to combat organized crime, but to achieve concrete results in the shortest time possible,” Otálora said.

In addition, Peru agreed to lead the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) on the issue of combating transnational crime. For Peru, “crime has no boundaries” and therefore is seeking cooperation with “brother countries”, said Otalora.

The Peruvian Minister announced “a new era of defense relations between our countries”, while stressing the traditional “good relationship” between the two nations.

Pinzon said, for his part, that “the relationship of Colombia and Peru is not only friendly and formal, but means a permanent presence of Peruvian officers working with Colombian officials, and the presence of Colombian officers working with the Armed Forces of Peru” .

The ministers agreed to take joint action against criminal groups in the border area ”in the coming months”.

Security operations will be accompanied by social initiatives for the people on both sides of the 1,600 km long border, the Colombian minister stressed.

To assess the situation, the two ministers agreed to meet again in March at the border, and hope that this meeting will also be attended by Minister of Defence of Brazil, Celso Amorim.

Industrial cooperation in defense matters was another issue discussed.

“Colombia has been experiencing major developments in its military industry, and is fully prepared to offer it to friendly countries, like our Peruvian brothers,” said Pinzon. He mentioned that Lima has already made “small” purchases from Colombia, but gave no more details.

Top Sinaloa cartel lieutenant killed in raid

tlc — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:25:24 +0000

Mexican security forces killed a top aide to the country’s most wanted drug trafficker in a raid in a mountainous area of northern Mexico, defense officials said Monday.

Luis Alberto Cabrera Sarabia, alias “The Architect,” was killed Friday during an air and ground operation in Canatlan, Durango state. The action began with a firefight at a ranch, army spokesman general Ricardo Trevilla announced at a news conference.

According to Trevilla, he was “one of the main lieutenants of Joaquin Guzman Loera alias ‘El Chapo.’”

Another gunman died in the raid and 11 others were arrested, Trevilla said. Three soldiers were also wounded.

The army said Luis Alberto Cabrera Sarabia took over as assistant to the fugitive head of the Sinaloa drug cartel after his brother, Felipe Carbrera Sarabia or “The Engineer,” was detained in December.

The northern states of Durango, Sinaloa and Chihuahua are known as the “Golden Triangle,” a key area of production of Mexican opium and marijuana.

Mexican helicopters hit at least 28 times so far in drug war

tlc — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:44:16 +0000

The Americas Post - As pilots like to say, any landing you can walk away from is a good one.

According to official figures released by the Mexican government this week, helicopters belonging to that nation’s police and military have been subjected to a minimum of 28 gunfire attacks in the five years since the government launched its campaign against drug cartels.

The attacks demonstrate the increasing firepower of Mexican drug gangs, but may confirm government claims that drug violence declined in 2011.

During the first two years of the drug war, the air force, navy and Attorney General’s Office reported no helicopter attacks. In 2008 however, four choppers came under fire, wounding at least one officer aboard.

In 2009, bullets hit at least six government helicopters in the rotors, side doors or engine compartments. All of them landed safely.

2010 was the worst year for anti-helicopter attacks, with 14 hit and one crew member hurt. Some of the aircraft landed with up to seven bullet holes in them, with rounds penetrating windshields, fuselages, rotors and landing gear.

Only three helicopters were reportedly hit by gunfire during 2011, although that number may be higher. The federal police declined to release information on anti-aircraft attacks, but has admitted that last May gunmen opened fire on a federal police chopper, striking two officers and forcing it down, though officials reiterated that it did not crash. The Russian-built Mi-17 landed about 3.5 miles from the shooting scene in western Michoacan. The two officers onboard survived their wounds.

Mexico’s police have deployed helicopters in anti-drug operations for decades, and drug gangs have hung steel cables around opium and marijuana fields to bring them down. The first fatal attack occurred in 2003, when gunmen protecting an opium-poppy plantation shot down two police helicopters, killing all five agents aboard. Such attacks were rare, however, before 2008.

Peruvian anti-narcotics chief fired

tlc — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:38:13 +0000

The Americas Post - Ricardo Soberon isn't running Peru's drug war anymore. Photo Credit: ANDINA

Peru’s government on Tuesday replaced top anti-narcotics official Ricardo Soberon after just five months in office, for his refusal to support coca crop eradication efforts.

Soberon caused provoked controversy in August by temporarily halting elimination of Peru’s coca crop, the world’s second largest after Colombia’s.

That move prompted complaints from U.S. Ambassador Rose Likins. The U.S. government finances Peru’s eradication program and considers it a vital part of the war on drugs.

Interior minister Oscar Valdes had disagreed with the suspension, which violated an inaugural promise by President Ollanta Humala. Valdes was promoted to Cabinet chief in December.

Soberon did not return phone calls seeking comment.

He has previously stated that Peru should prosecute cocaine traffickers and money launderers, confiscate illegal drug shipments and halt the import of chemicals for processing cocaine, but not penalize peasants who grow coca, the raw material for cocaine. Soberon’s anti-narcotics plan was never approved.

His departure may indicate that Humala is departing from the leftist agenda on which he initially campaigned for the presidency. Prior to his election, Humala told coca growers that he would not aggressively implement eradication. Soberon, who worked closely for many years with coca growers, sent a similar message.

The U.S. Embassy in Lima declined to comment on Soberon’s resignation.

According to U.N. figures, Peru had 236 square miles in coca cultivation in 2010, just three square miles fewer than Colombia. Unlike Colombia’s cocaine, most of which is smuggled into the United States, Peruvian coke is mainly shipped to Europe and the growing Asian market.

Soberon was replaced by Carmen Masias, a psychologist who has previously worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Starting in December, U.S. Customs wants to simplify air cargo screening.

Carbonero — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 18:28:37 +0000

The Americas Post.- Air cargo screening process will be simplified.

Under a new pilot program, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) the entry process for air cargo is designed to reduce the number of customs holds that delay air cargo and help give shippers a better idea of when they can take possession of their goods

Already starting in December, importers or brokers of air cargo will only have to provide thirteen data points and three optional pieces of information, instead of the current twenty-seven.

The new process, dubbed the “Simplified Entry Pilot,” is designed to…READ MORE HERE

Study shows Social networking and teen substance abuse are related.

Carbonero — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:53:51 +0000

Social networking and teen substance abuse are correlated.Photo Credit to Chris Jackson, Getty Images

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in the U.S. found that teens who spend time on the networks are likely to see images of their peers drinking or using drugs — images that could help to convince them that substance abuse is a normal, acceptable activity.

“We’re not saying (social media) causes it,” said Joseph Califano, the center’s chairman. “But we are saying that this is a characteristic that should signal to (parents) that, well, you ought to be watching.”

The findings are in keeping with a new wave of research into how social networks might affect teen decision-making. Several studies have suggested that Facebook, Myspace and other sites have created a new form of peer pressure, exposing..READ MORE HERE

Peru: President Humala announced suspension of regional coca eradication program

Carbonero — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:22:49 +0000

Ollanta Humala meets Hillary Clinton

WASHINGTON — Peru’s new government has assured Washington it would continue close collaboration on counter-drug efforts despite suspending a coca eradication program, the State Department said Tuesday.

The government of Peru’s President Ollanta Humala announced Wednesday it was temporarily suspending a coca eradication program in the Upper Huallaga Valley in the east central part of the country while it evaluates the effort.

“We do not believe that the temporary suspension of eradication this week represents a permanent shift in the Peruvian government’s counternarcotics policy,” the State Department said.

Peruvian officials “at the highest levels” assured the US embassy on Wednesday “of their..READ MORE HERE

UK Security against Riots and Looting: Social Policies, integration of police with society and Zero tolerance will be the mix in England.

Carbonero — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 13:46:47 +0000

Riots in London: Security Expert William Bratton was hired by the British Government

After the riots in England, a U.S. street crime expert has been hired by the Cameron government.

Prime Minister David Cameron (Conservative Party) has taken a hard line on rioting in statements this week after returning from his summer holiday and recalling parliament. He has also come under attack for austerity measures his government is introducing like cutting the amount of police officers and security budget, among other measures.

Cameron has criticized the police for their handling of the riots. On the other hand , another conservative, the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has said the riots weakened the case for those police cuts.

Cameron has said social and economic problems had little to do with the looting and violence which followed in which five people were killed, calling it “criminality pure and simple” and saying gang violence lay at its heart.

He enlisted U.S. street crime expert William Bratton on Friday to advise the government on handling it.

But some officers within the british police are not satisfied with Cameron´s decission of hiring an american expert.

“We do not need any lessons from the United States,” answered in today’s Independent newspaper the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Hugh Orde.

William “Bill” Bratton, the new adviser, is a very successful police expert. He has been credited with curbing street crime as police chief in New York, Los Angeles and Boston, and Bratton said he would offer advice based on his experience tackling gangs. Bratton is not in favor of massive arrests to solve the gangs problem, and says to ABC news “arrest is certainly appropriate for the most violent, the incorrigible, but so much of it can be addressed in other ways and it’s not just a police issue, it is in fact a societal issue.”

A ComRes poll for The Independent newspaper showed 54 percent of Britons say Cameron failed to provide leadership early enough to control the riots.

Most offenders are unemployed young men, and the riots were the result of a build-up of frustration among young people growing up on grim housing estates with little hope.

There is a debate in the british society, and many are saying the police should have been tougher.

About Bill Bratton.

William Joseph “Bill” Bratton (64) is an American police officer who was the New York City Commissioner, the Chief of Police in Los Angeles and the Boston Police Commissioner.

Bratton started his career at Boston Police Department before becoming New York Police Comissioner in 1994. He designed the successful zero-tolerance policy which reduced petty and violent crime in New York. The city became one of the safest in the world, and the safest in the U.S.

After the 1992 Riots in Los Angeles, he moved to that city. He reformed the Los Angeles Police and crimes lowered.

Bratton’s policing policy is mainly the following:

a) any crime, does not matter how minor or petty crime it is, must be dealt with

b) tolerance to crime equals an increase in the crime rate

c) zero tolerance to crime is one of the solutions to gang crime and riots.

d) the police must be ethnically diverse, and the force must be representative of the population and its ethnicity

e) the police must promote a strong relationship with the law-abiding population

f) fierce against police corruption

g) must be tough on gangs

h) and a strict no-tolerance of any kind of anti-social behaviour

Bratton was offered an advisor role to the British government which he accepted in August 2011.

Venezuela fights cocaine production and trafficking near colombian border.

Carbonero — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:51:43 +0000

Minister Tareck El Aissami is fighting criminals in the Venezuela-Colombia border.

Venezuelan authorities this year have destroyed 17 drug processing laboratories in the border with Colombia that had the capacity to produce three tons of cocaine a month, said on Wednesday the venezuelan Minister of the Interior, Tarek El Aissami to reporters during a tour of the town of La Fria, Tachira in the state, bordering Colombia.

El Aissami statements coincided with Hugo Chavez absence to Cuba, where he is getting a chemotherapy treatment against cancer.

The venezuelan government has been promoting this month’s Operation “Sierra 23″ in the border states of Tachira and Zulia, with the deployment of 1,300 members of the Armed Forces, said El Aissami. Thanks to this action , the authorities dismantled four drug labs and arrested three Venezuelans and one Colombian.

“We deployed all that in our border with Colombia (…), using air and land forces” to detect and destroy the illicit crop cultivation and processing laboratories of drug, he said.

The official explained that these operations also prevent irregular groups like FARC to install in inaccessible areas of the jungle common border area, about 2,200 km long.

“We are reaching the most intricate of the southwestern border of our country, where there are threats to the sovereignty, security or bandits want to penetrate our territory to carry out criminal activities,” agreed the venezuelan General Henry Rangel, a senior military commander who commands the operating in the area.

El Aissami said that these actions “have additional strength” due to the “extraordinary good relationship” with the Colombian government, to facilitate joint operations against irregular groups or criminal gangs.

“We carried out joint actions, each one from its territory, with the common purpose of preventing our borders from being misuesd by these criminal organizations,” said the minister.

U.S. TSA with new israeli interrogation techniques of airport security.

Carbonero — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 20:13:07 +0000

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers (Photo credit to PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images)

Boston’s Logan International Airport will be the testing ground of a new technology of airport security, aimed at screening passenger behavior. The test will start next Tuesdat.

During the new development, officers of the TSA Transportation Security Administration working at the Logan Airport will train screeners on having more conversations with passengers at the security checkpoint. The system is based after Israel’s enhanced airport screening methods.

Under the new program officers will be trained in human behaviour. They will will ask passengers non-intrusive questions and they will be trained to see how passengers respond. Those travelers who exhibit suspicious behavior will be pulled aside for more screening. Examples of suspicious behaviour could be struggling with answers and avoiding eye contact.

The offciers of the Logan Airport will receive advanced training, in theory and practice, in both classrooms and on-the-job experience , designed to improve their communication skilss and engage in conversations with passengers having as objective to identify suspicious behavior and anomalies.

The traveler will not feel the conversation like it was a sort of interrogation, but more of a ‘casual greeting’ conversation with a behavior detection officer after they provide their ID and boarding pass. If his/her act is suspicious, the passenger may get selected for an extended, but still limited conversation.

In the first phase, around 60 TSA officers are scheduled to take part in the training.

Logan will be the first airport in the U.S. to roll out the pilot program, which is targeted to officially begin in mid-August. After a certain period, TSA will evaluate how this pilot program impacts security, screening operations and passenger flow.

The results will determine how the TSA will proceed with the program.