U.S., Colombia and Central America want to speed up cooperation against crime

United States, Colombia and Central America are talking to accelerate cooperation against organized crime, but the configuration of this new model faces budget problems and internal problems in the isthmus, officials and analysts.
"If we have a coincidence of views in the region (we hope) that allows us to design a new structure that could emerge for more collaboration between countries of the Mesoamerican region and other countries in the hemisphere who want to support and participate," said Monday in Guatemala, the assistant secretary for counternarcotics, William Brownfield, touring the region.
Colombia, the largest recipient of aid in terms of U.S. security in Latin America, is ready to increase its aid but it requires a clear framework and support from Washington.
"We have been responding on a case by case, but now we want to do it with a plan that corresponds to a strategic logic, with a portfolio of capacity, services that we make available to other countries," he said Thursday in Washington Minister Colombian Defense Rodrigo Rivera.
"Despite the successes we have had we can not feel at ease, we feel that we also have much to contribute," he said.
The idea of regionalizing the United States provides aid to Mexico (Merida), Colombia (Plan Colombia) and Central America (Carsi) has been brewing for about a year, according to sources familiar with the talks consulted by the AFP on condition of anonymity.
But several obstacles remain, including the outstanding issue of diplomatic isolation of Honduras, the border spat between Nicaragua and Costa Rica and finally in Washington, budget discussions, an internal pulse between the White House and Republican opposition.
In the next six months could be defined this new regional framework, though not in terms of resources, according to the source told AFP.
Brownfield and Assistant Secretary for Latin America, Arturo Valenzuela, warned repeatedly in recent months that Central American countries can not expect much more help.
Colombia won last year some 462 million U.S. aid, which remains in effect for the extended U.S. budget.
Talks on the new regional plan were on track "to that came the conflict between Costa Rica and Nicaragua," he told AFP Kevin Casas-Zamora, former Costa Rican Vice President of the Brookings Institute expert.
The coming months will be intense in terms of diplomatic activity in the region: the next bilateral ministerial committee between the U.S. and Colombia is in March.
President Barack Obama will travel to Chile, Brazil and El Salvador later this month, and there have been contacts for a possible mini-summit with other Central American countries during the last leg of the tour.
Central American countries have also scheduled a meeting in Guatemala in June to present their plans for coordination with international donors.