THE United States has committed to helping Guyana bolster security at its borders with possible airplane surveillance and drones, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan has said. This, he said, is necessary as this South American country grapples with the trafficking of small arms and drugs from neighbouring Brazil.
Ramjattan told a news conference on Friday held at its party’s headquarters- Alliance For Change that at the just concluded Caribbean-United States (U.S.) Security Cooperation dialogue held at the Washington State Department in Washington DC, he presented Guyana’s ‘border security’ issues as a major concern, especially with the high prevalence of drug and gun-related crimes at the southern side of the border near Brazil.
He said as a result of his submission during the dialogue, the U.S. government made a commitment to strengthen collaboration with this country to combat gun-running and the drug trade through the possible installation of high-profile technological equipment, and professional preparation of those employed in the security and judicial sectors. “I did identify ‘border control,’ because more and more the evidence is that from Brazil we are having more small arms– Taurus pistols coming in… we also have some eyes in the Brazillian territory…it needs more surveillance, but the surveillance there would be expensive because that more or less will have to be probably airplanes,” Ramjattan stated.
The minister said he asked the U.S. State Department for help through providing airplane surveillance or drones that could go 100 miles and back with its location being at a sub-command centre likely to be installed at Lethem. The U.S. also suggested some other equipment they can utilise through satellite imagery. “… but these are expensive things. But in the exercise of trying to stop drugs and trying to stop firearms entering Guyana, if all of that is what we would require they have made a commitment that yes, there will be assistance in that regard.”
The minister’s visit was part of a forum on the CBSI. The meeting of government representatives from Caribbean and the USA, resulted in a collaborative commitment of all participating countries to substantially reduce illicit trafficking, advancing public safety and security, and promoting social justice to improve the lives of citizens, Ramjattan said.
However, he said he was particularly pleased with the promise by the U.S. to help secure Guyana’s southern border with Brazil with the installation of necessary high-profile equipment that can capture and record criminal activity from that end. Ramjattan said this move has come at a time when it has been recognised that the gun and drug trades are prevalent at the Guyana-Brazil border. “…The Colombians and Venezuelans and those who are involved with the narcotics trade from Brazil and other Latin American countries, they’re now using Guyana as a condo, and they have been doing so for some time,” Minister Ramjattan said.
He backed up his statement by pointing to the several strange airplanes that have been discovered in various areas in Guyana’s hinterland, adding that government has received information that there had been many other planes used in the international drug trade between Guyana, Europe and North America. “And now we know they do drop-offs and then it is brought to Georgetown, put in containers, and that is how Guyanese containers with rice and a whole lot of things are being caught in other countries with the cocaine.” He said Guyana has been applauded by the U.S. government for doing a “tremendously good job” in its recent efforts to destroy the drug trade, with the Customs Anti Narcotic Unit (CANU) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) Narcotics Unit intercepting several persons attempting to traffic drugs.
Barry Dataram
Meanwhile, Ramjattan said too that there has been greater collaboration with neighbouring states, citing the recent case with the Surinamese government arresting drug lord Barry Dataram.
According to a joint action statement by the Caribbean-United States Security cooperation dialogue, the countries plan to substantially reduce illicit trafficking by “developing a common regional maritime and airspace strategy as well as standard operating procedures, maintaining maritime operations, assets and equipment in order to establish a regional patrolling approach, and developing a sustainable and complementary sub-regional and regional defence and security maritime training capacity harmonising security measures in the Caribbean through the use of existing facilities.
Another aspect of collaboration is the advancing of public safety and security through programmes ranging from professionalising the law-enforcement institutions, technical assistance in training, improving the rule of law and support for the justice sector. Ramjattan said a number of professionals within the public security system have been selected for training in the USA. Several policemen will soon travel to Las Vegas, Nevada, for training in ‘bicycle brigade’ which will be effective in curbing lower levels of crime, particularly in Regent Street and other commercial areas in Georgetown. “We need more patrols, but it is expensive to have four by four. Good strong looking Guyanese girls and boys on bicycles [who] are really equipped to their training, doing their jobs. That is going to be one of the aspects that we are training,” Ramjattan told the press. Other areas of training include crime scene investigation, testifying in the trial, and undergoing heavy cross-examination.
Another 180 persons have gone on ‘high tech’ training ever since he assumed office as minister, and that will continue under the Caribbean Basin Initiative, Ramjattan said. The promotion of social justice through ‘justice sector reform’ via training of magistrates and prosecutors will also be part of the new collaborative efforts, Ramjattan said.