DEA office is positive news for Guyana – President Ramotar

Jun 29, 2014 News

By Latoya Giles
President Donald Ramotar has described as positive news for the country, the announcement that the United States Government through its local Embassy is setting up a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office in Guyana.
At a press briefing, yesterday at State House, Ramotar said that it was “a positive piece of news for Guyana. We have from the beginning been pushing for a DEA office.”
According to the Head of State, the issue of fighting drugs should not be the task of one country because of the linkages and the volume of money involved in it. Ramotar said that with the establishment of the office, it would give a globalized nature of the beast with which we are dealing.
He maintained that his administration has always been working to have more international cooperation.
The Head of State added that having the DEA office ties in with the importance that the international community plays on the whole question of strengthening financial systems. In this regard there is the need for the passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act.
The President described the AML Bill as being at the core because it is both an anti corruption and anti narcotics bill.
“If you don’t want to support that Bill it means that you are on the side of drug dealers and money launderers.” the President posited.
Last week at a press briefing he shared with US Ambassador Brent Hardt, he announced that the American-based DEA head office has been approved. Ambassador Hardt said that the US Congress has given the green light, for the agency to be established locally.
At present, Guyana works along with the Trinidad and Tobago-based DEA office, in the sharing of intelligence and exchange of mechanisms to tackle drug-smuggling problems.
President Ramotar said that he is confident that the presence of the DEA office will enhance the whole process of information-sharing and collaboration.
“The very fact that we have people on the ground 24/7 will enhance the whole question of information-sharing and we will probably be working and looking at different areas where we can build strong cases against those traffickers and have much more success.”
It is usually the US agency that apprehends major smugglers outside of their native countries. The President stated that DEA partnership and collaboration with the country’s local law enforcement and anti-drug agencies will help to build strong cases that can stand up in court.
President Ramotar said that narco-trafficking is an international problem that calls for global cooperation.
Ambassador Hardt had explained to Kaieteur News earlier last week that the local Embassy had been working endlessly to get the US agency here in Guyana. He had said that due to budgetary constraints in the US, the Embassy was unable to significantly move forward.
The Ambassador had also been pushing to bring technical expertise to look at the investigative aspect.
Hardt had stated, during another engagement, that in late 2012, the Embassy had been instrumental in bringing attention to the impending implications of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), ahead of the deadline for the Anti-Money Laundering Bill.
“The Bill”, he asserted, “is actually one of the best ways to go after ‘the bigger fish’ (drug lords)…because you really need to get those who are organizing it (drug shipments) and I think money laundering laws should give you the opportunity to do that if you have an effective investigative capacity.”
The DEA is a US federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States. They are also the lead agency for that nation’s domestic enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act, sharing concurrent jurisdiction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It also has sole responsibility for coordinating and pursuing U.S. drug investigations abroad.
The organization will not have the power to make arrests in Guyana since its role is to provide reinforcement for local anti-drug agencies.

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DEA office is positive news for Guyana – President Ramotar

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