US no longer dominates drug war agenda in Central America

The President of Guatemala, Otto Perez put the issue of drug legalization on the SICA agenda in a historic meeting in Antigua, Guatemala on Saturday, despite the efforts of a certain power to get the meeting canceled at the last minute. For the first time 3 Central American Leaders defied the US and send a strong and clear message: we consider the war on drugs failed, we demand that US takes the responsibility, we demand the US pays, we are not paying the price for US failure.

It is very clear that the Presidents of Central America and many Latin American countries are tired of the empty promises and empty US rhetoric on the war on drugs. They have also learned the lesson from Mexico, where President Calderon has been doing as the US asks, turning the country into a bloodbath. Last week Gen. Charles Jacoby, commander of U.S. Northern Command, said during testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee: Mexico’s “decapitation” strategy of capturing or killing high-value drug cartel leaders with the help of U.S. has a problem, it isn´t working. “The decapitation strategy — they’ve been successful at that. Twenty-two out of the top 37 trafficking figures that the Mexican government has gone after have been taken off the board. But it has not had an appreciable effect — an appreciable, positive effect.”