Clinton Pushes Latin America Business to Help Fund Drug War

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said businesses in Latin America must pay their “fair share” of taxes to fight drug trafficking.

“True security cannot be funded on the backs of the poor,” Clinton said today at a security conference in Guatemala City, where she was joined by presidents from Central America, Mexico, and Colombia.

Clinton said the United States will pledge $300 million to counter drug trafficking in Central America this year as Mexican drug cartels deepen roots in the region. Guatemala, which borders Mexico, joins neighboring Honduras and El Salvador as having among the highest murder rates in the world, Clinton said.

The aid package will boost police forces and intelligence gathering, as well as establish a fund to promote tax reforms, Clinton said.

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos called for a regional cooperation strategy to fight organized crime and said Central America should create a financial information unit, similar to the one Colombia has had for 12 years, to track down money in “suspicious bank accounts.”

“You have to have political will to defeat organized crime,” said Santos. “This is no child’s game.”