Hey Everyone!
The article I chose to discuss is "Region unites against crime" (Región se une contra el crimen) found in Prensa Libre. The article highlights the recent efforts of both Guatemala, and the region of Central America as a whole, to combat crime. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs, and Defence, met together to create the Declaration of Antigua to strategize ways to reduce the prevalence of “drug trafficking, money laundering, arms trafficking, and human trafficking.” The basic premise behind this declaration is to create a more united front across Central America through which to fight crime. These include stricter monitoring of the Pan American highway, ground, sea and air patrol at the borders, and a general increased exchange of information amongst law enforcement groups from one country to the next. Additionally, the countries of Central America are in the process of harmonizing their laws to prevent money laundering, and also provide support for victims and witnesses of crimes through a regional program. The article also mentions that while these key solutions have been agreed upon, the general consensus among the representatives from each country is that there is a severe lack of funding to implement these objectives. In Guatemala alone, it has been estimated that the budget for these initiatives will need to be increased by at least 50%. The topic of human rights also came to the forefront at this conference, as well as a brief discussion of the issues surrounding climate change.
In my opinion, this article ties in well with a recurring theme that came up last class, which is the inability of Guatemala (and other Central American countries) to increase taxation. Crime is such an important issue to tackle in the region, and it has the potential to detract from economic revenue derived from tourism. It also contributes to the prominence of the informal sector in the region. However, even with the lack of funding, in my opinion the region is making headway on the issue by choosing to collaborate and create group initiatives to combat crime, since things like drug trafficking are issues that expand across many countries in North, South and Central America.
http://www.prensalibre.com/noticias/justicia/Region-une-crimen_0_329367082.html
Laura Volpe
This article is a very interesting one. I like it because it highlights the fact that crime is a serious issue in Latin American society today and that something needs to be done to help combat the issue. It is also great to see that the region is uniting under one banner in trying to prevent the proliferation of crime across the region which could potentially harm the country and the continent as a whole. I think that it is so important to tackle such issues in the region because through decreasing the rates of crime in the region it could help substantially in terms of decreasing the economic and social issues within the country. Decreasing crime could help with the tourism industry as more tourists would come to a country where they feel safe. Through the development of the tourism industry, jobs could also be created for the people of the country thereby helping to improve their living standards as well as promote social mobility within the society. It is still a serious issue to tackle but as Laura wrote in her blog it is good that the governments are uniting and creating initiatives that would help fight the problem of crime even if more funding is needed.
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