Miami – As the waters that killed hundreds in Central America last week begin to subside, security ministers of those nations met with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Key Biscayne on Wednesday with a suddenly urgent task: find a regional way to combat emerging threats.
Such as rain.
In his first regional ministerial conference, Rumsfeld met with the defense chiefs of seven nations for two all-day sessions designed to combat local ills like drug trafficking and the increasing presence of maras, or violent gangs.
But while Rumsfeld and Cmdr. Bantz Craddock, who heads the United States Southern Command, pushed the Central American Free Trade Agreement as the solution to the area’s troubles, the Central American officials were interested in discussing a more immediate challenge facing the region: the force of nature.
“The message we should get from all this is that we have to prepare a bit more for the future, now that disasters seem to be coming every day,” said Gen. Carlos Humberto Aldana Villanueva, Guatemala’s defense minister. “State responses are sometimes limited.”
Guatemala was hit hard last week by Hurricane Stan. Some 1,000 people are dead or missing, and at least 30 percent of its infrastructure was damaged.
The storm underscored the region’s vulnerability and its need for cooperation in times of need. Military rapid-response teams and regional coordination are key to surviving the next disaster, ministers said.
Drug trafficking, illegal immigration and youth gangs menace the region as well.
Suggesting sound security comes from a sound economy, Rumsfeld advocated CAFTA, the free-trade deal recently passed by Congress that opens the markets for the United States, all of Central America and the Dominican Republic. All the nations have passed it except Costa Rica.
Rumsfeld did warn that violent gangs threaten the region’s development.
Critics worry that the Pentagon is pushing Central American militaries, some of which have a history of bloody human rights abuses, into law enforcement roles, especially if they are used to fight gangs.
