Skip to main content

Drug Control: U.S. Counterdrug Activities in Central America

T-NSIAD-94-251 Published: Aug 02, 1994. Publicly Released: Aug 02, 1994.
Jump To:
Skip to Highlights

Highlights

GAO discussed its review of drug trafficking in Central America, focusing on: (1) U.S. efforts to curb the flow of cocaine into the United States and the obstacles to those efforts; and (2) Central American countries' capabilities to interdict cocaine shipments and their dependence on U.S. assistance. GAO noted that: (1) Central America continues to be a major cocaine transshipment point despite U.S. interdiction efforts; (2) obstacles to U.S. interdiction efforts involve national sovereignty and jurisdictional issues; (3) drug traffickers have shifted their operations more to sea and land routes to evade U.S. air interdiction efforts; (4) sea and land shipments are harder to detect and intercept; (5) Central American countries do not have the resources or institutional capacity to counter the new trafficking modes and are heavily dependent on U.S. assistance; (6) federal funding for U.S. interdiction efforts is declining; and (7) U.S. agencies are supporting small-scale projects in the transshipment countries, but the countries' limited capabilities and the shift in U.S. policy to intercept drugs in South American countries could hinder the projects' success.

Full Report

Office of Public Affairs

Topics

ContrabandControlled substancesDrug traffickingFederal aid to foreign countriesForeign policiesFuture budget projectionsInternational cooperationInternational relationsLaw enforcementSearch and seizure