U.S. General: Transnational Crime is the Greatest Threat to the Caribbean

Criminal gangs engaged in the transnational trafficking of drugs, guns and humans are the greatest threat to the region, according to Gen. Douglas Fraser, the head of the U.S. Southern Command. “The traffickers are well-financed and very capable,” he said, speaking at the University of Miami’s Center for Hemispheric Policy. “This is a long fight; it will not be a two or three-year fight.” Fraser echoed the sentiment of a recent World Bank report that viewed crime as a negative hold on growth, something Angela Brown, VP of Jamaica’s People’s National Party discussed in an interview with Caribbean Journal.  Fraser said the cost of fighting such crime was a “tax on society,” slowing economic growth. [Nation News]