Skip to main content

Home/ Americas-MOAS/ Group items tagged police

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
lenaurick

2010 Human Rights Reports: Antigua and Barbuda - 0 views

www.state.gov/...154490.htm

human human rights politics latin america foreign policy economy

shared by lenaurick on 28 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • Antigua and Barbuda is a multiparty, parliamentary democracy with a population of approximately 100,000.
  • There were human rights problems in some areas, including excessive use of force by police, poor prison conditions, some limits on press freedom, societal discrimination and violence against women, sexual abuse of children, and discrimination against homosexuality.
  • There were no reports that the government or its agents committed arbitrary or unlawful killings.
  • ...30 more annotations...
  • Nonetheless, there were occasional reports of police brutality, corruption, excessive force, discrimination against persons on basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and allegations of abuse by prison guards.
  • Prison conditions were very poor. Her Majesty's Prison, the country's only prison, was overcrowded, did not have toilet facilities, and slop pails were used in all 122 cells
  • Prisoners and detainees had reasonable access to visitors, were permitted religious observances, and had reasonable access to complaint mechanisms and the ability to request inquiry into conditions.
  • Security forces consist of a police force, the small Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force, and the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which coordinates law enforcement and prosecutorial action to counter narcotics trafficking. The police force had approximately 750 officers.
  • The constitution provides that criminal defendants should receive a fair, open, and public trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforced this right. Trials are by jury. Defendants enjoy a presumption of innocence, have timely access to counsel, may confront or question witnesses, and have the right to appeal. In capital cases only, the government provides legal assistance at public expense to persons without the means to retain a private attorney
  • There were no reports of political prisoners or detainees
  • The constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press, but the government respected these rights on a somewhat limited basis
  • There were no government restrictions on access to the Internet or reports that government monitored e-mail or Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups could engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail. There were 75 Internet users per 100 inhabitants, according to Internet World Statistics.
  • The constitution provides citizens with the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.
  • Members of the Organization of American States observer group reported that the elections were generally free and fair.
  • There were two women in the 19-seat House of Representatives and five women appointed to the 17-seat Senate. The governor general, the speaker of the House of Representatives, and the president of the Senate, all appointed positions, were women. There were two women in the cabinet.
  • The Freedom of Information Act gives citizens the statutory right to access official documents from public authorities and agencies, and it created a commissioner to oversee the process. In practice citizens found it difficult to obtain documents, possibly due to government funding constraints rather than obstruction.
  • The constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, sex, creed, language, or social status, and the government generally respected these prohibitions in practice.
  • The Directorate of Gender Affairs, part of the Ministry of Labor, Public Administration, and Empowerment, established and publicized a crisis hotline for victims and witnesses to sexual assault, and managed a sexual assault center that coordinates responses to sexual assault. When rape cases are reported to the police, a female police officer accompanies the victim for both questioning and medical examinations at the center. Once the doctor's report is completed, an investigation commences.
  • n situations where the victim did not know her assailant, the cases rarely came to trial.
  • Violence against women, including spousal abuse, was a problem. The law prohibits and provides penalties for domestic violence, but many women were reluctant to testify against their abusers.
  • Sexual harassment is illegal, but it was rarely prosecuted. According to the Labor Department, there was a high incidence of sexual harassment incurred by employees in both the private and public sectors. However, only approximately 20 cases were formally reported during the year; the small number was believed to result from concerns about retaliation.
  • Women in society enjoy the same rights as men under the law. However, economic conditions in rural areas tended to limit women to home and family, although some women worked as domestics, in agriculture, or in the large tourism sector. Despite these limitations, women were well represented in the private and public sectors. There was no legislation requiring equal pay for equal work, but women faced no restrictions involving ownership of property.
  • Citizenship is acquired by birth in the country, and all children were registered at birth
  • Child abuse remained a problem. The press reported regularly on the rape and sexual abuse of children.
  • Statutory rape is illegal; the minimum age for consensual sex is 14. Despite a maximum penalty of 10 years to life, authorities brought charges against few offenders, and those convicted did not serve long jail terms due to lack of witness cooperation
  • Homosexual acts for both sexes are illegal under indecency statues, and some male homosexual acts are also illegal under anal intercourse laws.
  • Some LGBT persons claimed that homophobia impairs the willingness of HIV-positive persons to obtain treatment; however, there were no reports of violence or discrimination directed toward persons with HIV/AIDS.
  • Workers have the right to associate freely and to form labor unions. Approximately 60 percent of workers in the formal sector belonged to a union. Unions were free to conduct their activities without government interference
  • Labor law prohibits retaliation against strikers, and the government effectively enforced this prohibition.
  • he constitution prohibits forced or compulsory labor, including by children.
  • The law stipulates a minimum working age of 16 years, which corresponds with the provisions of the Education Act. In addition persons under 18 years of age must have a medical clearance to work and may not work later than 10 p.m.
  • The minimum wage was EC$7.00 ($2.59) an hour for all categories of labor, which provided a barely adequate standard of living for a worker and family. In practice the great majority of workers earned substantially more than the minimum wage.
  • The law provides that workers are not required to work more than a 48-hour, six-day workweek, but in practice the standard workweek was 40 hours in five days
  • While not specifically provided for by law, in practice workers could leave a dangerous workplace situation without jeopardy to continued employment.
  • lenaurick on 28 Aug 16
     
    This article is about common issues that countries face, and how Antigua and Barbuda deals with these issues. For the most part, it seemed that Antigua and Barbuda was a relatively developed country with a strong and fair government, rights for children, good working conditions, and unrestricted access to internet. However there were also areas where Antigua and Barbuda needed improvements. For example their prisons are overcrowded, women continue to be victims of sexual assault, and homophobia is acceptable. Overall this article helped me to get a better sense of where Antigua and Barbuda stands on major issues.
Javier E

Mexican Leader, Facing Protests, Promises to Overhaul Policing - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ises-to-overhaul-policing.html

politics latin america mexico security corruption police

shared by Javier E on 05 Dec 14 - No Cached
  • Some of his proposals never made it out of Congress under predecessors, including putting local police under state authority. Yet he has had success pushing through other broad changes designed to improve the economy, and as much as anything he aimed to restore the public’s flagging faith in his governance.
  • The case has pushed Mexico’s chronic problems with organized crime, impunity and lawlessness back to the forefront and forced Mr. Peña Nieto, who had tried to prioritize the economy, to act.
  • “This shows a change from a government that thought that economics will fix security issues, to one that acknowledges that security — and rule of law — is needed to allow economic growth to happen,”
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • “The real question is whether the Mexican people, who have been promised investigations, overhauls, special commissions, anti-corruption campaigns and institutional reorganizations by this president — and nearly every other authority since the Mexican Revolution — will believe these latest promises,”
  • Analysts said many of the proposals, if not new ideas, were needed, but questioned whether Mr. Peña Nieto had the credibility to pull them off because of scandals under his watch.
  • “You can’t announce credible strategies to deal with corruption without facing his own scandal of his wife’s white house, whether the conflict of interest is real or not,” said Fernando Dworak, a political analyst and columnist. “He needs to give the message, it starts with himself.”
  • Some analysts saw reining in municipal police as a crucial step but questioned whether state forces were any more up to the task, given their own histories of corruption and drug ties.
  • On Thursday, the decapitated bodies of 11 young people were found in Guerrero State, the same state where the students went to school and disappeared. The governor also said reports of a mass abduction before the one in Iguala would also be investigated.
luckangeloja

Antigua behind the brochures: gangsters' paradise? | The Independent - 0 views

www.independent.co.uk/...gangsters-paradise-883268.html

Drugs Antigua and Barbuda Police Enforcement Crossroads Prices

shared by luckangeloja on 19 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • Gun crime and gang violence are on a sharp rise among Antigua's young, linked to a global trade in guns and marijuana, crack and other cocaine, a traffic that has put the island and its neighbours at a vital crossroads between the narcotics producers of South America and the eager consumers of the US and Europe. These drugs seep into the population, payment in kind for dealers, or simply an impossible lure at prices that are a fraction of the street prices in the developed world, sometimes as low as US$1 (50p) for a rock of crack cocaine.
  • Eric Clapton, the guitarist, was so shocked by the effects that crack and other drugs were having on the population that he set up the Crossroads rehab centre in Antigua in 1998.
  • Kim Martin, the admissions director at Crossroads, says: "Crack cocaine is the number-one substance of abuse for our Antiguan clients, followed by alcohol. It was the influx of crack that caused members of the community to approach Clapton in the first place and it is still very visible, particularly in some parts of the island, which is leading to crime."
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Only a few blocks up the hill and the shops and banks give way to more dishevelled buildings, run-down stores selling only a handful of items, homes with crumbling front steps. There is no shortage of opportunity to find drugs, as twenty-something men make their friendly approach to tourists.
  • Antigua's police appear hopelessly out of their depth. The police station on the high street in St John's is crumbling. The new commissioner, brought in from Canada with other former Mounties, has put his energies into solving the lack of funds and infrastructure within the organisation.
  • luckangeloja on 19 Oct 16
     
    This article was actually based off an incident that a couple had while they were staying in Antigua for vacation. Although their incident had nothing to do with drugs, the article eventually shifted to this topic. It discussed how the cheap cost of drugs is a huge reason for the overuse of them. Members from the rehab center "Crossroads" discussed how drugs have really been seeping through the community. The police are also struggling to control the outburst of drugs.
bennetttony

Nicaragua Corruption Report - 0 views

www.business-anti-corruption.com/...nicaragua

shared by bennetttony on 18 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • Courts are prone to corruption and manipulation by organised crime groups, drug cartels and a democratic socialist political party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which allegedly accepts bribes from drug traffickers for campaign financing in return for judicial favours (InSightCrime, July 2014).
  • Rampant corruption within Nicaragua's political circles impairs the functioning of state institutions and limits foreign investment. International companies report widespread favouritism and impunity among public officials.
  • Courts are prone to corruption and manipulation by organised crime groups, drug cartels and a democratic socialist political party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which allegedly accepts bribes from drug traffickers for campaign financing in return for judicial favours (InSightCrime, July 2014).
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Nicaragua's legal system is plagued by corruption and is burdensome.
  • Nicaragua's police are corrupt and enjoy impunity. Prosecution and criminal sanctions against police officers in corruption cases are delayed due to bribery, ineffectiveness and an opaque justice system (HRR 2013)
  • Foreign companies encounter red tape and corruption when dealing with Nicaragua's public services administration.
  • Foreign companies experience discriminatory and arbitrary treatment and extortion in meetings with tax officials in Nicaragua. Tax audits of foreign firms are reported to be frequent and lengthy, which often hinders normal business operations and increases corruption risks and business costs (ICS 2014).
  • The overall implementation and enforcement of Nicaragua's anti-corruption legislation is weak, and the level of compliance with the law is poor among Nicaragua's public officials.
  • The Constitution of Nicaragua provides for freedom of the press, but the government restricts and controls all information available to the public.
  • nataliedepaulo1 on 18 Oct 16
     
    This article outlines the corruption in the Nicaraguan government. This is an important to hemispheric security because it is an issue that needs to be addressed.
  • bennetttony on 04 Nov 16
     
    This article highlights the corruption going on in Nicaragua in many different areas like legislation, civil society, police, etc.
Ellie McGinnis

2013 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) - 0 views

www.state.gov/...204049.htm

guatemala narcotics security us

shared by Ellie McGinnis on 04 Aug 13 - No Cached
  • more than 80 percent of the primary flow of the cocaine trafficked to the United States first transited through the Central American corridor in 2012.
  • Guatemala’s weak public institutions, pervasive corruption, and porous ports and borders to move illicit products, persons, and bulk cash.
  • Improved law enforcement efforts in Colombia and Mexico, among other factors, led to an increasing volume of precursor chemicals transiting Guatemala.
  • ...30 more annotations...
  • Guatemala produces opium poppy and synthetic drugs for export
  • ombating drug trafficking one of his administration’s top priorities.
  • President Otto Perez Molina
  • government’s extensive anti-drug efforts and established a mobile land interdiction unit charged with targeting DTOs operating in remote areas
  • Guatemala’s pressing issues include high levels of violence fueled by the drug trade, money laundering, and other organized criminal activities; corruption within the police; and an overburdened and inefficient judicial system
  • Guatemala confronts continuing fiscal challenges in seeking to fund its counternarcotics initiatives. The country has the lowest tax collection rate in Central America and one of the lowest in Latin America.
  • Guatemala had the eighth-highest murder rate in the world
  • Guatemala worked with the United States to arrest high-profile traffickers in 2012
  • Guatemala is a party to the Central American Commission for the Eradication of Production, Traffic, Consumption and Illicit Use of Psychotropic Drugs and Substances
  • Inter-American Convention against Corruption
  • A maritime counternarcotics agreement with the United States is fully implemented
  • Guatemala is one of six countries (along with Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, France, Belize and the United States) that ratified the Caribbean Regional Agreement on Maritime Counter Narcotics, which is now in force.
  • 590 hectares of opium poppy on these missions
  • air interdiction efforts, supported by six U.S.-titled helicopters, have significantly deterred drug flights from entering the country.
  • Guatemala seized 4.7 metric tons (MT) of cocaine in 2012,
  • eight kilograms of heroin
  • $5.6 million in drug-related assets
  • United States intends to work with Guatemala to build capacity for proper storage and/or destruction.
  • uatemala lacks current information
  • underfunded with an annual budget of $450,000, of which approximately 80 percent was used to cover salaries
  • SECCATID developed a school-based drug prevention program, “My First Steps,
  • United States continues to work with the Guatemalan Police Reform Commission to address police reform.
  • Guatemala cooperated with the United States and regional partners on several important counternarcotics initiatives in 2012
  • Guatemala and the United States continued to collaborate on a range of ongoing citizen security, counternarcotics, law enforcement, and rule-of-law initiatives in 2012, including the Central America Regional Security Initiative. U.S. assistan
  • United States provided support to an inter-agency anti-gang unit that brought together the PNC, Attorney General’s office (MP), and analysts from the PNC’s criminal analysis unit (CRADIC) to investigate and dismantle local gang organizations.
  • .S. support for rule-of-law activities, Guatemala increased its capacity to prosecute narcotics traffickers, organized crime leaders, money launderers and corrupt officials.
  • productive relations with Guatemala and will continue to support the government’s efforts to improve its technical and organizational capacity in the security and justice sectors.
  • better equipped to combat narcotics-related crimes in the country by fully implementing the Organized Crime Law
  • The United States encourages the Government of Guatemala to continue implementation of the Asset Seizure Law; quickly implement an anti-corruption law enacted by the Congress in October; approve legislation to regulate the gaming industry; and reform its law governing injunctions, which is often used to delay processes and trials
  • Concrete and substantial police reform, with appropriate budgetary support, is necessary for sustained progress in Guatemala. 
Javier E

In Honduras, Deaths Make U.S. Rethink Drug War - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...-make-us-rethink-drug-war.html

foreign policy US drug central america

shared by Javier E on 13 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • Fearful that Central America was becoming overrun by organized crime, perhaps worse than in the worst parts of Mexico, the State Department, the D.E.A. and the Pentagon rushed ahead this year with a muscular antidrug program with several Latin American nations, hoping to protect Honduras and use it as a chokepoint to cut off the flow of drugs heading north.
  • the antidrug cooperation, often promoted as a model of international teamwork, into a case study of what can go wrong when the tactics of war are used to fight a crime problem that goes well beyond drugs.
  • “You can’t cure the whole body by just treating the arm,” said Edmundo Orellana, Honduras’s former defense minister and attorney general. “You have to heal the whole thing.”
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • A sweeping new plan for Honduras, focused more on judicial reform and institution-building, is now being jointly developed by Honduras and the United States. But State Department officials must first reassure Congress that the deaths have been investigated and that new safeguards, like limits on the role of American forces, will be put in place.
  • the new plan, according to a recent draft shown to The New York Times, is more aspirational than anything aimed at combating drugs and impunity in Mexico, or Colombia before that. It includes not just boats and helicopters, but also broad restructuring: several new investigative entities, an expanded vetting program for the police, more power for prosecutors, and a network of safe houses for witnesses.
  • The country’s homicide rate is among the highest in the world, and corruption has chewed through government from top to bottom.
  • The foreign minister, Mr. Corrales, a hulk of a man with a loud laugh and a degree in engineering, said he visited Washington in early 2011 with a request for help in four areas: investigation, impunity, organized crime and corruption.
  • Members of the Honduran police teams told government investigators that they took their orders from the D.E.A. Americans officials said that the FAST teams, deploying tactics honed in Afghanistan, did not feel confident in the Hondurans’ abilities to take the lead.
  • there were no detailed rules governing American participation in law enforcement operations. Honduran officials also described cases in which the rules of engagement for the D.E.A. and the police were vague and ad hoc.
  • the killing — along with the soaring homicide rate and the increased trafficking — sounded alarms in Washington: “It raised for us the specter of Honduras becoming another northern Mexico.”
  • Representative Howard L. Berman of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote to Mrs. Clinton, “Unfortunately, this is not the first time the United States has come perilously close to an overmilitarized strategy toward a country too small and institutionally weak for its citizens to challenge the policy.”
  • Mr. Brownfield, the assistant secretary, said it was impossible to “offer a zero risk program for interdicting drugs in Central America.” He noted that the shootings during interdiction raids happened in the middle of the night, in remote locations that were hard for investigators to reach. Despite these challenges, he said that investigations were conducted and that he was “basically satisfied” that he knew what had happened.
  • From the moment the Honduran pilot departed in his aging Tucano turboprop, just before midnight, he was in radio contact with Colombian authorities, who regularly receive radar intelligence from the American military’s Southern Command.
  • Mr. Corrales, the foreign minister, and some American officials have concluded that the downed planes amounted to misapplied military justice, urged on by societal anger and the broader weaknesses of Honduras’s institutions.
  • Creating a stronger system is at the core of what some officials are now calling Anvil II. A draft of the plan provided by Mr. Corrales shows a major shift toward shoring up judicial institutions with new entities focused on organized and financial crime.
  • The D.E.A.’s role will also probably change. A
  • “It’s a tragedy; there is no confidence in the state,” she said, wearing black in her university office. The old game of cocaine cat-and-mouse tends to look like a quicker fix, she said, with its obvious targets and clear victories measured in tons seized.
  • “This moment presents us with an opportunity for institutional reform,” Dr. Castellanos said. But that will depend on whether the new effort goes after more than just drugs and uproots the criminal networks that have already burrowed into Honduran society.
tristanpantano

With A Soft Approach On Gangs, Nicaragua Eschews Violence : Parallels : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...ngs-nicaragua-eschews-violence

nicaragua politics gangs approach violence latin america history

shared by tristanpantano on 02 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • As the sun sinks just below the horizon, Jorge Sandoval strolls across a dusty street. He's a small man in his 50s, who runs volunteer patrols. The neighborhood is poor. The houses are cobbled together out of leftover wood and pieces of metal. Two years ago, Sandoval says, these streets used to be desolate and controlled by gangs. Parallels Nicaragua Follows Its Own Path In Dealing With Drug Traffickers "They would shoot at each other at all hours," Sandoval says. "Suddenly you'd find someone injured, someone innocent, because they just didn't care."
  • The Dimitrov neighborhood in the capital of Nicaragua used to be one of the most dangerous in the country.
  • It was so dangerous that its 10 or so square blocks accounted for 20 percent of all the crime of Managua, a city of 1.2 million people.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • children, running out of their homes to play in the streets.
  • This kind of tranquility is not something you'd see in the capital cities of El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala or Belize, because over the past decade, Central America has been engulfed by bloodshed, becoming one of the most dangerous regions in the world.
  • Nicaragua, the poorest of the bunch and with just as bloody a history, is one of the safest countries in the hemisphere.
  • While Nicaragua's neighbors have embraced so-called "mano dura" or iron fist policies, Nicaragua has taken a softer approach.
  • The Nicaraguan police, for example, pacified the Dimitrov neighborhood by having the community patrol itself and by having police officers mediate talks between gang members often after soccer games.
  • El Salvador and Honduras legislated "mano dura" policies against youth crimes. Guatemala and Belize followed suit but in a more ad-hoc manner.
  • right now Nicaragua has just 70 juveniles in jail.
  • It's a system that was developed in the '70s, when Nicaraguans were preparing for war against the dictatorship
  • Some were instructed to develop emergency treatment centers at their homes, while others were given small, but important tasks like collecting water.
  • Cuadra and other human rights groups have expressed concern that the police and even the community volunteers have begun to take on those security roles again.
  • tristanpantano on 02 Nov 16
     
    This article is valuable because it gives many other strategies that Central American countries use against crime. It also shows that Nicaragua, while doing a great job, isn't as tough as they could be in criminals. 
evanpitt14

JAMAICANS NAMED IN $MILLION DRUG BUST | Antigua Observer Newspaper - 0 views

antiguaobserver.com/ans-named-in-million-drug-bust

shared by evanpitt14 on 03 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • $10.4 million drug haul that has resulted in the detention of four Jamaican nationals.
  • 00 pounds of cannabis.
  • ,
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • 2
  • 6
  • possession, possession with intent to supply, and transfer of the illegal substance.
  • Two firearms with matching ammunition, and large sums of Eastern Caribbean and United States currency were sized in the operation.
  • motor van and a speedboat believed to be involved in the incident.
  • laundering charges,
  • The police in their quest to stem the flow of illegal drugs in and out of the country, as well as to rid the country of illegal firearms and ammunition, have to date seized millions of dollars’
  • 2,500 cannabis plants,
  • evanpitt14 on 03 Aug 16
     
    This is about another major drug bust in Antigua involving marijuana. This shows how it is a hotspot for supplying drugs to the US because of the vast amounts of US currency found. It also shows how it can be easy to transport it because of vehicles like speedboats. The police are working to end it but it won't be easy.
rachelramirez

The Nicaraguan Firewall: How the Narco Gangs Have Breached It - TIME - 0 views

content.time.com/...0,8599,2116269,00.html

Nicaragua gangs corruption

shared by rachelramirez on 04 Jul 16 - No Cached
  • The Nicaraguan Firewall: How the Narco Gangs Have Breached It
  • Nicaraguan military and police leaders insist they've created a "firewall" against the western hemisphere's more than $40 billion drug trade and the ultra-violent narco-gangs pushing in from both the north and the south.
  • the country is a leader in drug busts and has managed to reduce its homicide rate to the second-lowest in the region behind Costa Rica.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Roberto Orozco, a Nicaraguan security expert at the Managua-based Institute for Strategic Studies and Public Policy (IEEPP). "We had already identified narco-penetration in lower levels of government, where municipal and local officials have been bought by organized crime. This is especially true along the principal drug-trafficking routes, where we've seen the worst corruption among police and local judges.
  • Substitute Magistrate Julio César Osuna, who was arrested May 27, is accused of using his government post to smuggle drugs, launder money and sell fake Nicaraguan IDs to foreign drug traffickers.
  • the drug gangs terrorizing Central America's northern triangle are moving into the rest of the isthmus.
  • Those who know the inner workings of the CSE say it's highly unlikely that Osuna, who is accused along with 21 other people who are not public officials, was working alone inside the government.
  • In the final months of Ortega's first Sandinista government in 1990, when party apparatchiks were busily divvying up confiscated properties and other spoils of their decade-long revolution, the National Assembly quietly passed a decree granting Nicaraguan citizenship to some 600 foreign revolutionaries, extremists and other political misfits who were being harbored by Nicaragua as an act of "solidarity.
  • While the Sandinistas' strong central government has slowed the narco-contamination of Nicaragua, the country's democratic institutions are extremely weak and vulnerable to corruption, analysts warn. It remains to be seen how far police will go — or be allowed to snoop — behind the thick curtain of secrecy that has shrouded the Sandinista government for the past five years
  • rachelramirez on 04 Jul 16
     
    Although Nicaragua is doing a good job fending off corruption considering where the country is located, corruption is beginning to seep into the government. Based off of this article it seems as if it would be a nearly impossible task to keep Nicaragua from turning into a mini-Honduras or El Salvador, where corruption and gangs rule. Additionally, the government seems divided at the higher and lower levels, as the lower levels of the government have been taken over by gang members, and they have allowed terrorists from numerous countries to gain citizenship. It seems as though the best course of action that Nicaragua could take is unifying the government, and supporting the economy so that the government does not have to play into gang's desires.
luckangeloja

Antigua and Barbuda Country Profile - International Security Sector Advisory Team (ISSAT) - 0 views

issat.dcaf.ch/...ua-and-Barbuda-Country-Profile

Security Drugs Money Laundering Antigua and Barbuda U.S.

shared by luckangeloja on 20 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • The dual-island state serves as a transit point in the international drugs trade and is home to criminal networks operating human trafficking rings.
  • Antigua and Barbuda was designated by the US State Department in 2013 as being a “Country of Primary Concern” with regards to money laundering. The country’s significant offshore financial sector makes it highly susceptible to the laundering of illicit proceeds from drug trafficking and financial crimes, the State Department noted.
  • The Royal Antigua and Barbuda Police Force (RABPF) is the primary body responsible for domestic law enforcement and numbers around 600 personnel. It is housed under the Ministry of National Security and Labour.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • The Coast Guard conducts drug interdiction operations but, according to the US State Department, lacks the capacity to fully carry these out.
  • Antigua and Barbuda is a part of the Regional Security System (RSS) which seeks to promote cooperation between its members[9] in the Eastern Caribbean in drug interdiction efforts and maritime policing, among other areas.
  • The police are also engaged in the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) programme which was launched in 2011 and provides educational talks to school students on avoiding gangs, violence and drugs.
  • luckangeloja on 20 Oct 16
     
    This article talked about how the safety and security organizations are applied in this country. According to the U.S., the coast guard of this country lacks the numbers that are needed to crack down on drug interdiction operations. If they're were more members, the drug related crimes would obviously go down. This article also touches on how easily money laundering can come from drug trafficking in Antigua and Barbuda.
redavistinnell

Exclusive: leading candidate to be Commonwealth secretary general alleged to have recei... - 0 views

www.telegraph.co.uk/...ainst-Antiguan-government.html

leading candidate commonwealth fraud government politics foreign policy caribbean

shared by redavistinnell on 16 Jun 16 - No Cached
  • Exclusive: leading candidate to be Commonwealth secretary general alleged to have received $1.4m in fraud against Antiguan government
  • A fax dated 28 November 1997 appears to show that Rappaport opened an account with the Bank of Bermuda called the “IHI Debt Settlement Co Account”.
  • Sir Ronald served as High Commissioner to Britain from 1982 until 1987 and then again from 1996 until 2004. Soon after he returned to London, the Queen made him a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG). She proceeded to award him a knighthood in June 2002. Two years later, Antigua’s then government commissioned an investigation by Robert Lindquist, a Canadian forensic accountant, after a routine audit suggested the state was overpaying a loan.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • The Lindquist report named Sir Ronald as a “person of interest” in this alleged fraud which cost Antigua $14 million (£9.3 million) between 1997 and 2006.
  • Mr Lindquist found that the monthly surplus of $203,594 – amounting to 40 per cent of Antigua’s total revenue from petrol sales tax - was shared between various beneficiaries, apparently including Sir Ronald. The architect of the alleged fraud was the late Bruce Rappaport, a S
  • Sir Ronald Sanders, now the Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to Washington, apparently received monthly payments of £10,000 while serving as High Commissioner in London, according to a report ordered by his country’s government but never subsequently published.
  • The document says that “funds received monthly from the Government of Antigua” amounting to $403,334 were to be used to repay IHI to the tune of $199,74
  • Including funds that were channelled through Bellwood Services – a Panamanian company owned by Sir Ronald until 1996 – the Lindquist report says that he appeared to receive a total of $1,398,492 (£933,000).
  • But on 29 June 2015, Antigua’s police commissioner wrote to Sir Ronald’s lawyers saying this should never have happened, adding: “I hereby confirm that the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda has no interest in interviewing Sir Ronald Sanders and that there are no current or pending investigations that involve him in any way.”
  • Antigua's current government has described the Lindquist report as “riddled with hearsay, rumour and conjecture” and the result of a “partisan witch-hunt” launched by a previous administration. Sir Ronald has never been shown the report.
  • redavistinnell on 16 Jun 16
     
    This article shows the corruption with in the Antiguan government. There is an obvious gap between the government officials in Antigua and Barbuda and the people. One of the biggest problems facing Antigua's government is how corrupt it is.  
g-dragon

Antigua and Barbuda - 1 views

www.state.gov/...78876.htm

shared by g-dragon on 12 Jun 16 - No Cached
    • g-dragon
      g-dragon on 12 Jun 16
       
      Antigua and Barbuda is a diplomatic government with laws, but sometimes those laws are not followed well. Some problems are excessive force by police, bad prison conditions, sexual abuse of children, and discrimination and violence against women. There are been reports of police brutality, corruption, and discrimination against gay people. Prisoners are treated poorly by prison guards and children are held in the same prison as adults. There are not a lot of women in the government. There are 1/17 in the House of Representatives, 2/17 in the Senate and none in the cabinet. There are also no minority members in parliament or cabinet. On the bright side, both speaker of the House and president of the Senate are women. Another problem is the violence and abuse towards women. Since women do not testify against their harassers, the government has had trouble addressing this issue however they have been trying to increase women's awareness of their rights and providing a safe place for women and children.  - Daniel Lin
    • g-dragon
      g-dragon on 12 Jun 16
       
      Part Two  The few schools that the government provided often has shortages and the parents often provide the chairs, tables, and books. There is a huge problem with child abuse like rape and men having sexual relationships with young girls. Contrary to other sources, this one states,"girls and boys have equal access to health care and other public services." They also state that there are no reports of discrimination against people with disabilities considering that there is not a law that prohibits discrimination against the handicapped. - Daniel Lin
Javier E

In Mexico, a Restrictive Approach to Gun Laws - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...tive-approach-to-gun-laws.html

gun law Mexico US comparative

shared by Javier E on 25 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • MEXICO CITY — Juan García relinquished his cellphone, walked through two metal detectors, registered with a uniformed soldier — and then finally entered Mexico’s only legal gun store.
  • To anyone familiar with the 49,762 licensed gun dealers in the United States, or the 7,261 gun-selling pawn shops, the place looked less like a store than a government office. Customers waited on metal chairs near a fish tank to be called up to a window to submit piles of paperwork. The guns hung in drab display cases as if for decoration, with not a single sales clerk offering assistance.
  • The goal of the military-run shop seemed to be to discourage people from buying weapons, and even gun lovers like Mr. García, 45, a regular at a local shooting club, said that was how it should be. “If you want to stop someone who gets mad at their wife or the world from running out and buying a gun and killing everyone, you have to make it hard,” said Mr. García, who waited two months for the approval to buy a .38-caliber pistol. “It’s the only way to make people think.”
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Why, Mexicans ask, don’t Americans tighten their gun laws? Doing so, they say, would stanch the violence both in the United States and in Mexico, where criminal groups wreak havoc with military-grade weapons smuggled in from the United States.
  • The 1917 Constitution written after Mexico’s bloody revolution, for example, says that the right to carry arms excludes those weapons forbidden by law or reserved for use by the military, and it also states that “they may not carry arms within inhabited places without complying with police regulations.”
  • the largest weapons in Mexico’s single gun store — including semiautomatic rifles like the one used in the Aurora attack — can be bought only by members of the police or the military. Handgun permits for home protection allow only for the purchase of calibers no greater than .38, so the most exotic option in the pistol case here consisted of a Smith & Wesson revolver selling for $803.05.
mikecoons

Antigua and Barbuda | Country report | Freedom in the World | 2013 - 0 views

freedomhouse.org/...antigua-and-barbuda

Democracy Freedom Antigua and Barbuda

shared by mikecoons on 28 Aug 16 - No Cached
  • The government of Antigua and Barbuda took steps in 2012 to reform the country’s financial regulatory environment in the aftermath of the discovery of a $7 billion dollar Ponzi scheme, which had exposed deep ties between foreign businesses and the government
  • Antigua and Barbuda, a member of the Commonwealth, gained its independence from Britain in 1981.
  • In the 2004 elections, the opposition United Progressive Party (UPP), led by Baldwin Spencer, defeated Prime Minister Lester Bird and the ruling Antigua Labour Party (ALP), ending the Bird political dynasty that had governed the country since 1976.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • Fallout from the collapse of the Stanford Financial Group’s companies, which had been one of the main providers of jobs in the country, as well as the global economic downturn and the consequent decline in tourism, continued to impact Antigua and Barbuda’s economy in 2012.
  • Antigua and Barbuda is an electoral democracy. The 1981 constitution establishes a parliamentary system, with a governor general representing the British monarch as ceremonial head of state.
  • Parliament is composed of the 17-seat House of Representatives (16 seats for Antigua, 1 for Barbuda), to which members are elected for five-year terms, and an appointed 17-seat Senate.
  • Antigua and Barbuda generally respects freedom of the press. However, defamation remains a criminal offense punishable by up to three years in prison, and politicians often file libel suits against opposing party members.
  • The government owns one of three radio stations and the public television station. There are no restrictions on access to the internet.
  • The government generally respects religious and academic freedoms.
  • Crime continues to be a problem in Antigua and Barbuda, and the government has responded with increased community policing, the reintroduction of roadblocks, and stiffer fines for firearms violations. The United Nations Development Programme’s 2012 Caribbean Human Development Report reported that Antigua and Barbuda suffers from a high rate of property crimes, such as robberies, with a lower violent crime rate. The country’s prison is overcrowded and conditions are very poor.
  • The 2005 Equal Opportunity Act bars discrimination on the basis of race, gender, class, political affinity, or place of origin. However, societal discrimination and violence against women remain problems.
  • Women hold only 10 percent of the elected seats of the House of Representatives. Male and female same-sex sexual activity also remains criminalized under a 1995 law, and there have been cases of excessive force and discrimination of people based on sexual orientation at the hands of the police. Antigua and Barbuda serves as both a destination and transit country for the trafficking of men, women, and children for the purposes of forced labor and prostitution.
  • Antigua and Barbuda’s political rights rating improved from 3 to 2 due to a decline in corrupt foreign business influence over the government.
  • lenaurick on 28 Aug 16
     
    This article is a general description of the issues faced by Antigua and Barbuda, particularly political issues. This article also talks about the 7 billion dollar Ponzi scheme from 2012 that showed how foreign business and Antigua's government interacted. This article also talked about the elections, and in my opinion the government and its elections seemed fair. This article was helpful to my study of Antigua and Barbuda because it give me an overview of the countries government, and economy.
  • mikecoons on 18 Oct 16
     
    Political ratings have gone down in A&B.
luckangeloja

Our Partners | ONDCP Antigua and Barbuda - 0 views

ondcp.gov.ag/our-partners

Antigua and Barbuda Drugs Drug Enforcement ONDCP

shared by luckangeloja on 20 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force (ABDF) The mission of the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force is to defend Antigua and Barbuda’s territorial integrity and sovereignty to include, aid to the civil authority, fisheries protection, drug interdiction
  • Due to the involvement of the ONDCP and ABDF in drug interdictions, both entities work in partnership to ensure that our borders remain relatively safe from infiltration by drugs traffickers and those who engage in illegal activities.
  • Although RPFAB have numerous units within the force the ONDCP is mainly in partnership with the Intelligence Unit, the Drug Squad and the Police prosecution department.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Over the years the ONDCP has worked closely along with the Customs and Excise division, sharing useful Information and Intelligence in order to clamp down on Money Laundering, Cross border movement of cash and Illegal Drugs which could be linked to terrorism.
  • luckangeloja on 20 Oct 16
     
    This article listed the forces used to enforce drug related policies in Antigua and Barbuda. There were connections between the local forces and the ONDCP, which is responsible for the U.S.'s anti-drug policies and one of Antigua and Barbuda's primary counter narcotics agencies.
nick_gauthier

SISCA - 0 views

www.summit-americas.org/...hr.html

human rights mandates OAS foreign policy diplomacy

shared by nick_gauthier on 05 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • To reaffirm our support for the objectives set out in the Declaration of the Decade of the Americas for the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities (2006-2016) and its Plan of Action
  • advance in strengthening the protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of older persons through promotion of public policies, programs, and services, thus safeguarding their dignity, their physical, mental and social well-being, and their quality of life
  • To strengthen the administration of public security by governmental agencies through promotion of citizen and community participation, institutional coordination, and training and education of civilian and police personnel, with full respect for the rule of law, domestic law, gender equality, and human rights.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • o prevent and fight the smuggling of migrants and trafficking of persons, particularly of women, children and adolescents, and to promote cooperation among states to that end, respecting and fully protecting their human rights
  • eiterate our commitment to protect and promote human rights in our Hemisphere, and to the strengthening of the inter-American human rights system, with due respect for its autonomy and independence. We express our support to continue furthering the constructive dialogue with the participation of all actors, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Right
  • Our commitment to full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is based on shared principles and convictions. We support strengthening and enhancing the effectiveness of the Inter American human rights system, which includes the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
  • nick_gauthier on 05 Nov 16
     
    This page is a summary of previous mandates made by the OAS at Summits of the Americas in various cities including Cartagena, Colombia, and Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. They mainly reaffirm the mission and re-concentrate efforts.
jackhanson1

Nicaragua Dispute Over Indigenous Land Erupts in Wave of Killings - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...rupts-in-wave-of-killings.html

shared by jackhanson1 on 18 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • ve of Killings
  • Nicaragua Dispute Over Indigenous Land Erupts in Wa
  • Thousands of Nicaraguans have moved into the lush tropical rain forests that are home to the country’s nearly 180,000 indigenous Miskito people. The newcomers — called “colonists” by the Miskito — have been lured by the promise of gold and the abundance of lucrative timber. Some of the settlers have also been forced from their lands by drought. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “It’s our territory,” said Isidro Charles, a Miskito farmer who had accompanied one of the decapitated men to the village’s communal lands when men with AK-47s snatched him.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Indigenous communities all over Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast say they are under attack by settlers who have taken over their ancestral lands.
  • “They are trying to get us out of here,” said Vina Ernesto Efrain, 44, who saw her nephew gunned down the day a group of heavily armed men showed up in her village. “I haven’t been to my farm since, which means they took it from me.”
  • One indigenous village was burned to the ground. At least 600 indigenous people have fled to neighboring Honduras, where they live in dirt and squalor, advocates say. The killings of at least 30 Miskitos have been documented; the settlers say at least 80 farmers have also been killed, but have been unable to provide a list of names.During a recent visit to Francia Sirpi, a remote community several hours’ drive from the coast, more than a dozen indigenous men showed off gunshot wounds they had received from attacks while fishing or hunting. One teenager lost a leg. In December, three communities were attacked in a single day, with two men killed. Three others were kidnapped that day and have not been seen since.
  • The bad blood goes back ages. The Miskitos, unlike other Indian peoples in the Americas, were never conquered by the Spanish. For a long while, the region was a British protectorate. Even now, the Miskitos call the descendants of people who came from Spain hundreds of years ago to colonize the Americas “Spaniards.”
  • But in practicality, people on both sides of the dispute say the government has allowed the settling and the violence to continue unabated, partly because several of the indigenous leaders implicated in the illegal land sales are Sandinista government officials.
  • The government formed a special commission under the prosecutor general’s office to tackle the issue. The prosecutor general, Hernán Estrada, referred questions about the matter to the Foreign Ministry, which did not respond to requests for comment. The National Police also did not respond.
  • Ms. Cunningham said the tension between Miskitos and the Sandinistas dates back to the early 1980s, when the Sandinistas, fresh from their revolutionary victory, ran the Miskitos out of their homes and burned down villages in a mass displacement.
  • ericpincus_10 on 18 Oct 16
     
    This article is about violent interactions between indigenous people.
  • jackhanson1 on 04 Nov 16
     
    This article relates to my topic of intercultural dialogue and inclusion because this article talks about a dispute between one indigenous group, the Miskito, and outside settlers. These settlers have been trying to take over the Miskito's land, searching for valuable gold. However, the Miskito indians have been unwilling to let these settlers settle amongst them, and the two sides have become increasingly hostile toward one another. The conflict has gone on for quite some time, and many people have called upon the government to step in and ease the situation. The government has set up a task force to help solve the issue, but the task force has not been implemented at all.
g-dragon

Antigua's volunteer medics on call around the clock - BBC News - 0 views

www.bbc.com/...world-latin-america-36152493

shared by g-dragon on 13 Jun 16 - No Cached
    • g-dragon
      g-dragon on 13 Jun 16
       
      Antigua is facing many problem now, but it is not just known for the challenges that it must face. A self donation based clinic helps injured people on the south side of Antigua and the workers there do no get paid. Many people who get into accidents there do not call the police because they know that it will take too long for them to get to them. The health clinic has also become a search and rescue team. Donations have gotten the ABSAC an ambulance, two boats, and a fire truck. The only problem is that as more people come there and expect treatment like a hospital, the clinic runs out of supplies. They also will need more devoted volunteers to work there.  - Daniel Lin
rachelramirez

Ortega vs. the Contras: Nicaragua Endures an '80s Revival - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ua-endures-an-80s-revival.html

Nicaragua contras politics Venezuela

shared by rachelramirez on 04 Jul 16 - No Cached
  • Ortega vs. the Contras: Nicaragua Endures an ’80s Revival
  • Tyson and his men are contras — yes, like the ones from the 1980s who received stealth funding during the Reagan administration to topple Mr. Ortega’s leftist Sandinista government.
  • That war ended more than 25 years ago, when Mr. Ortega lost at the polls. But since being re-elected in 2006, Mr. Ortega has come to rule over this Central American nation in sweeping fashion.
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • They control fuel companies, television stations and public construction projects, which has many critics comparing his family to the right-wing Somoza dynasty that Mr. Ortega helped topple in 1979.
  • They complain they are broke and say the reason they are not more successful is that they do not have international aid, as they did during the Reagan administration.
  • Though Mr. Ortega enjoys strong support among the poor, he was widely criticized for constitutional changes that repealed term limits, allowing him to run this year for a third consecutive term.
  • The government denies that politically motivated rebels in the country still exist, despite occasional attacks on police stations and the killings of Sandinistas and known contras
  • “It is a silent, dirty war that is not recognized,” said Bishop Abelardo Mata, a Roman Catholic leader who has served as something of a mediator between the two sides.
  • Venezuela has provided Nicaragua with hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of oil a year on preferential terms, and the government acknowledges that much of it is invested in private companies closely tied to the Ortega family and its allies.
  • “The Ortega-Murillo family is getting richer while the country people starve,” a rebel who calls himself Commander Rafael said about the president and his wife, Rosario Murillo
  • He said the Ortega administration must be doing something right. In January, the World Bank projected Nicaragua’s economy to grow by 4.2 percent in 2016, one of the highest rates in Latin America.
  • It is no wonder: 38 percent of the Venezuelan oil is used to fund social projects. More than 35,000 houses have been distributed among the poor in the past two years, according to a government website. World Bank statistics show that the poverty level dropped six percentage points from 2005 to 2009.
  • “He might have an expensive car, but the other presidents before him had their luxuries but did not help the people,” Veronica Aguilar, 55, said of Mr. Ortega.
  • The rebels are not buying it. In a sign of the new allegiance the socialist administration has to the country’s richest people, the government has lifted import taxes for luxury items like yachts and helicopters.
  • rachelramirez on 04 Jul 16
     
    This article highlights some of the positive change the Ortega family has brought to Nicaragua, despite being flooded with reports of corruption, but it shows how divided the country is. There are contras roaming the country, and have been doing so for 25 years, who refuse to step down, and now finance their resistance by working with cartels within Nicaragua. It seems as though chaos has decided to run through Nicaragua. Additionally, we are able to see that under the current president poverty has decreased and new millionaires have increased. It seems as though a few people have a high concentration of the money in Nicaragua.
1 - 20 of 25 Next ›
Showing 20▼ items per page