Above: Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño set off for Washington to testify at a hearing on the growing problem of drug trafficking on the United States’ Caribbean borders.

Fortuño will be joined Thursday by members of the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection in a hearing of the Subcommittee on Homeland Security

“The goal of Congress, with this view, is to achieve a more effective federal response to criminal activity perpetrated by drug trafficking networks in our region,” Fortuño said. “Increased security along sea routes and strategic ports should be part of a comprehensive border initiative in the Caribbean, similar to the US southern border with Mexico.”

The governor said that, given the disproportionate levels of crime in Puerto Rico compared to the US border between the US and Mexico, it is “clear” that federal agencies of law and order must strengthen themselves in Puerto Rico.

The hearing of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Management, will be chaired by Texas Congressman Michael McCaul, who has called the increase in drug-related crime in the region “disturbing.”

“We have an opportunity we cannot miss — to formulate a joint repines that is more effective and proportionate to the security challenges that we have,” Fortuño said. “We have a tidy to do everything in our scope to make this issue a national priority.”