US Commits to Stemming Flow of Illegal Firearms into the Caribbean

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Chairman of the CARICOM Council for National Security and Law Enforcement (CONSLE), Dr. Horace Chang, says the United States has given a commitment to the region that it will work towards stemming the flow of illegal firearms into the Caribbean.

Dr. Horace Chang (Image via JIS)“The US offered to extend itself to work with these Caribbean countries. More critically, a lot of the guns are manufactured and shipped here very easily. We need their cooperation and support to deal with it, and they came forward through the various agencies that they have in this kind of activity,” Chang said in an exclusive interview with the Jamaica Observer newspaper.

Last week, Jamaica hosted the 24th CONSOLE meeting and Chang, who is also Jamaica’s National Security Minister, said that the issue of illicit firearms trafficking was identified as a tier one threat in the CARICOM Regional Security Strategy and as one of the main drivers of criminality levels in region.

He said it has the potential to cripple the already fragile socio-economic developmental progress in CARICOM and the advancement of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) that allows for the free movement of goods, skills, labor and services across teh1 5 member regional integration grouping.

“None of our countries manufacture firearms and yet the ill effects of their proliferation and the contribution to gang violence and transnational criminal activities permeates our respective territories and are responsible for more than 70% of homicides in CARICOM.  It is within this context that it is important to disrupt and prevent illegal firearms and ammunition passing through our borders. “

Washington’s commitment to assist the region was given during an extensive presentation at the three-day meeting by US agencies such as Homeland Security; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Agency for Narcotics, among others, with Chang telling the newspaper “they would like to increase their activity significantly in the region to begin the process of mitigating this really serious challenge in the Caribbean region”.

Chang said that the primary issue examined at the three-day summit was, “the continued trafficking of illicit firearms in the Caribbean which is posing a clear and present risk to all the Caribbean leaders.

“We have had it for a long time as a country but it is now, rather than diminishing, spreading throughout the Caribbean. Our friends in the eastern Caribbean are having a serious problem with gun crimes. The threat of movement of guns in the Caribbean is a major one and now on the forefront the Caribbean Council of Security Ministers. It is one that is generating significant levels of criminal violence across the region,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“We have seen recent news coming out of Turks but of course our Caribbean brothers, Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia in particular, (are having) serious issues. We have to find means and ways of cooperating to reduce this particular challenge.

“We don’t make firearms. Violence has unfortunately become too much a part of our culture and requires deeper issues in dealing with illegal firearms, which is a major issue. If the firearms are not there then there will be reduced incidents of its use, without any question. So, we have to approach the issue of dealing with this plague which is attacking us now across the region,” he added.