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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.

On the surface, it seems like the Nicaraguan government is doing quite a bit to fight the drug war and that Bluefields is a place of perdition. But reality is more complicated. Cocaine Trafficking Routes Through Nicaragua Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime: "Transnational Organized Crime in Central America and the Caribbean" (September 2012) Credit: Alyson Hurt / NPR 'Cocaine Republics' Cocaine's Influence on Nicaragua's Miskito Coast Nicaragua — the largest country in Central America — has a lengthy coastline on the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. With its remote location, Bluefields is well placed to serve as a pit stop along the corridor where drugs travel from the South American producers to U.S. consumers. What's more, the cocaine moving through Nicaragua's territory represents a higher share of GDP than any other Central American country, which in the words of the U.N.'s Office on Drugs and Crime, should give traffickers greater leverage to both sow more corruption and foment violence.

In 2011, The Global Commission on Drugs, a high-profile panel of world leaders – including former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker — declared that the "global war on drugs has failed." And this September, the commission followed up with a report recommending policies that work, including some legalization and encouraging countries to try regulating instead of prohibiting some aspects of the drug trade.

drugs

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ON MAY 9th American customs and border-protection officials launched an aerostat—a fat, tethered balloon—above the coast of Puerto Rico. Its job is to use radar to detect low-flying aircraft, ships and smaller vessels carrying drugs across the seas to the south.

a territory of the

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drugs

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Planes fly a dogleg path—first north, then west—to avoid Colombian airspace; the drugs then move by land or other means via Central America and Mexico.

Drug flights to Central America dropped by a third and traffickers were pushed east to the Caribbean islands.

Traffickers often work with small packages, moving them in several jumps (see map). Some embark directly from the Venezuelan coast; others go overland through sparsely populated rainforest in Guyana and Suriname, where borders are virtually uncontrolled and small aircraft can land on remote roads or interior airstrips.

There are also well-established trails up the eastern Caribbean island chain and westward via Jamaica.

rafficking in Class A drugs such as cocaine continues to offer the criminal the highest profit margin

T

Financial Intelligence & AML/CFT Compliance Financial Intelligence & Compliance Most serious organised crime is about money. Therefore, tackling money laundering is an essential part of combating the threat of drug trafficking, organised crime, fraud and the financing of terrorism. Financial Intelligence Unit AML / CFT Compliance Policy on Drugs Determined to address the problem of illicit drug use

Most serious organised crime is about money.

tackling money laundering is an essential part of combating the threat of drug trafficking, organised crime

he declared that the war on drugs had failed and that the international community needed to end the "taboo" of debating decriminalisation

Pérez Molina is unequivocal about the need to search for an alternative to the current paradigm,

For Colombia, drugs are a matter of national security; for other countries it is mainly a health and crime issue."

The cartels have grown in strength, the flow of arms towards Central America from the north has grown and the deaths in our country have grown. This has forced us to search for a more appropriate response."

The situation in Guatemala has become more serious as Mexican cartels – taking refuge from an attempt to militarily defeat them – have inserted themselves into Guatemala and sought to control the trafficking routes through that country

with the cartels come other nightmares: kidnapping, extortion, contract killers and people trafficking.

Pérez Molina concedes: "Drug traffickers have been able to penetrate the institutions in this country by employing the resources and money they have.

western countries fail to understand the reality that countries such as Guatemala and those of Central America have to live in," said Pérez Molina

due to a lack of understanding on the part of western countries.

arguing explicitly for the introduction of a regulated market for drugs. Not full legalisation, but a controlled, regulated market for the production, distribution and sale of narcotics.

the Guatemalans have been consulting with the Beckley Foundation, probably the leading global advocate of deploying science and empirical evidence to drive the debate about the war on drugs

"I believe they should reflect on this, to avoid these deaths that are occurring in transit countries. We don't produce and we don't consume, but we are countries that suffer deaths and place our institutions and our democracy at risk.

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. 

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.

The court, however, has the authority to also fine the person convicted of drug possession where the quantity of drug exceeds two kilograms (4.4 pounds).

In addition to being jailed for three years, Bertrand has to pay the $300,000 fine within a year or be jailed for a further 12 months at Her Majesty’s Prison.

The woman’s lawyer, Steadroy “Cutie” Benjamin, begged the court to show mercy to his client who is a first time offender, still a youth, having celebrated her 33rd birthday last week, and the mother of two young daughters, ages 10 and eight.

Benjamin said the woman is of a strong Christian background, but was forced to take a chance with the drug because she did not want her children to suffer.

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.

$1,066,000 and 5.6 kilos of cocaine, which was valued at $197,288.

$1,263,288.

charged with possession of cannabis, possession of cannabis with intent to supply, being concerned in the supply of cannabis and drug trafficking. They were slapped with additional charges of possession of cocaine, and being concerned in the supply of cocaine and drug trafficking

drug bust are ongoing

over 10 years in prison if they are indicted on all the charges

Class A drug and cannabis, which is a Class B drug, under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

pay more than $500,000 to the court for possessing cocaine

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

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.