Guyana Venezuela begin talks on new Anti-Drugs Cooperation Agreement

Feb 10, 2011 News

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-National Drug Strategy Master Plan successor on the cards-Rohee

Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee has admitted that the National Drug Strategy Master Plan has not been completed on schedule.
The Minister made the admission at the launch of negotiations between Guyana and its western neighbour Venezuela on a New Anti-Drugs Cooperation Agreement, yesterday, at the Ministry of Home Affairs Boardroom.
The National Drug Strategy Master Plan had an implementation period of 2005-2009, but almost two years after the deadline, all the programmes have not yet been implemented.
Rohee acknowledged that “much has been said about Guyana’s implementation of its 2005-2009 National Drug Strategy Master Plan.”
“There are those who argue that the plan only exist in the book shelves of the Government agencies which are in receipt of it.  I wish to assure every Guyanese that that is not the truth,” the Minister stated.
According to Rohee, of the 36 programmes identified for implementation under that strategy, 17 have been concluded, 16 are works in progress and three have not commenced implementation.
“It is true that the National Drug Strategy Master Plan had a duration of five years.  But a critical assumption of any strategic plan is the timely availability of resources. Wherever resources could have been found, programmes and activities were implemented.  The programmes that have not been implemented because of resource limitations, will be rolled over to the new Plan being developed once those programmes, when reviewed, are determined to be still relevant,” the Home Affairs Minister pointed out.
Yesterday Rohee welcomed the Venezuelan delegation to Guyana, noting that it is opportune that the negotiations to arrive at a new Guyana/Venezuela Anti-Narcotics cooperation agreement is being negotiated at a time when Guyana is on the cusp of developing a successor 2011-2015 new National Drug Strategy Master Plan.
To this end, he said that a key component of any anti-narcotics strategy for Guyana must be cooperation and coordination with Guyana’s neighbours – especially in view of the fact that much of the drug activities associated with Guyana have their origins beyond Guyana’s boundaries.
“It is also an incontrovertible fact that the suppression of the drug problem cannot start and end within national jurisdictions and therefore require regional and international cooperative and coordinated action.”
And since Guyana and Venezuela share a border that is 672 kilometres or 420 miles long, coupled with the vast body of water by which the two countries are connected, Rohee said that the monitoring of territory that size, in an era of ever increasing technological advancement and acumen of the perpetrators of the trade in illegal drugs, it would be a challenge for a State that has an abundance of resources, much less two developing countries with competing demands – not only in relation to crime and security, but development imperatives in their entirety.
The Home Affairs Minister said that it is in recognition of that fact that both Presidents Bharrat Jagdeo and Hugo Chavez decided at their meeting in Caracas last July, that efforts must be made to enhance and intensify cooperation and coordination between the law enforcement agencies of Guyana and Venezuela.
He stated that both presidents had recognised the limitations of national efforts to combat the scourge of the drug trade.
“In reviewing the instruments in place to not only address the fact that both the territories of Guyana and Venezuela are being used to facilitate the trade in illegal drugs and that some of our nationals are indeed facilitators, both sides have come to the conclusion that the Agreement concluded on March 27, 1987 does not contain all of the provisions necessary to combat the trade in illegal drugs,” Rohee stated.
It is envisaged that the new instrument that would be concluded to enhance cooperation and coordination between Guyana and Venezuela will include assistance in the taking of  necessary actions to confiscate the assets of those convicted of involvement in the trade in illegal drugs or related offences; and ensure real-time cooperation and coordination between the respective law enforcement agencies.
Rohee pointed to the efforts of local anti drugs units to dent the operations of drug traffickers in Guyana, claiming that the past two years have seen the eradication of several acres of cultivated marijuana, the seizure of over 140 kilograms of cocaine and the concomitant prosecution of hundreds of persons.
However many argue that while Guyana continues to arrest mainly the minnows in the drug trade the big fishes are allowed to carry on scot free
“I am happy that both Guyana and Venezuela agreed that at this juncture a more facilitative legal instrument is required to address the new and emerging ways in which the illegal drug operators are conducting their nefarious activities.
Both Guyana and Venezuela are aware that there are multilateral instruments that can be used to assist us in our cooperative efforts.  But we are agreed that as neighbouring States direct and real time communication and cooperation are indispensable to taking the fight to those who are involved in the trade in illegal drugs.
We are convinced that by working closer together on this matter, we will be able to make a greater impact,” Rohee stated.

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