Washington, Sep 15 (EFE).- Bolivia, Myanmar and Venezuela have failed to meet international agreements against drug trafficking over the past 12 months, US President Joe Biden said on Sunday.
Bolivia, Myanmar and Venezuela are the only three countries noted in a memorandum sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken “as having failed demonstrably during the previous 12 months to both adhere to their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements and to take the measures required.”
Despite this, Biden stressed that support for aid programs for these three nations is “vital” to US interests.
Myanmar was plunged into crisis in 2021 when the military took control in a coup.
The memo also listed around 20 countries, mostly Latin American and Caribbean, as “major transit or production sites for illicit drug,” including Afghanistan, the Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.
As provided for in the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, the US president must report annually on the countries he considers to be major drug producers or drug transit sites in the world.
The list is compiled based on a “combination of geographic, commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs or precursor chemicals to be transited or produced, even if a government has engaged in robust and diligent narcotics control and law enforcement measures.”
The memo specifies that the presence of a country on the list “is not necessarily a reflection of its government’s counterdrug efforts or level of cooperation with the United States” and “not a sanction or penalty.”
It adds that, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were about 107,543 overdose deaths in the US in 2023, a 3 percent drop compared to 2022.
Biden welcomed the fact that it is the first annual decline in overdose deaths since 2018 and attributed it to the efforts of his administration, but he also emphasized that solving the problem is a global one that requires a coordinated international response.
Establishing long-term and robust relationship with “crucial” allies such as Mexico, he said, is imperative to effectively combat the fentanyl epidemic and dismantle the criminal organizations that profit from this drug.
“We will continue our close partnership with Mexico to prevent the diversion of precursor chemicals and drug-related equipment; improve interdiction, investigations, and criminal justice outcomes; disrupt illicit finance; advance border integration; and build public trust in security and justice institutions,” his note said.
His memorandum includes a broad reference to China, which he says in the last year has taken “significant steps to reduce the flows of precursor chemicals to illicit drug producers known to be trafficking synthetic drugs, such as illicit fentanyl, into the United States.” EFE
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