United States Wants to Talk Crime

Trinidad and Tobago's Newsday
April 7, 2009

US president Barack Obama wants to allocate more time at the upcoming Fifth Summit of the Americas to discuss the issue of crime and failed judicial systems in the Caribbean and Latin America, his summit advisor Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow said last Friday.

In an interview published on the Americas Society website on April 3, the White House advisor for the summit noted that while the drug trade and terrorism are down for discussion in terms of the issue of human security, Obama wants to talk more about how crime affects the people of this region on a day to day basis.

“The president wants to broaden that agenda and talk about other forms of crime that really afflict people throughout the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico and elsewhere” Davidow said when asked whether he felt there was a particular issue at risk of getting overlooked at the upcoming summit.

“The question of street gangs; unemployed youth; weak political, juridical and police systems — these are the kinds of things that are not that easy to talk about because they are not that easy to fix. But I really hope that they don’t get overshadowed.”

To read the complete article, click here.


To speak with one of our experts on this topic, call 212-277-8384 or email communications@as-coa.org.

See more in:  Southern Cone & Brazil, North America, Central America & Caribbean, Andean Region, U.S. Policy, Trade & NAFTA, Security, Multilateral Organizations, Economics & Finance