Southcom Chief Urges Campaign Plan for Central America

By Jim Garamone
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8, 2014 - Central America needs a campaign plan to combat the power of transnational criminal syndicates, reinstitute the rule of law, and regain sovereignty over their own territories, the commander of U.S. Southern Command said here yesterday.

Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly told a National Defense University audience that any who doubt whether a campaign plan would work need only look "at the miracle of Colombia."

Colombia illustrates what a country can do to throw off narcoterrorists and reassert government, the general said.

"They are a great example," he said, "of what can be done so long as a government and a people, along with some help from the United States" work together toward a common goal.

Turbulent region

El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are in the same situation Colombia was in in the mid-1980s, Kelly said. Transnational criminal gangs -- the cartels -- use the nations as their safe havens. They ship billions of dollars in cocaine and methamphetamine mostly to the United States but also throughout the world. The governments have lost control of their own territories as these gangs replace a normal, legal economy with drugs, guns and violence.

Is it any wonder then, the general said, why more than 63,000 children from these countries moved to parts north this past summer?

What's needed is a whole-of-government campaign plan not imposed from outside, but developed in conjunction with the nations and some help from the United States, Kelly said. This will take decades to accomplish, he said, but it can be done.

Honduras may be the most dangerous place on Earth that is not involved in an actual war, said Kelly, noting that one in seven adult males there will die from violence. Guatemala and Honduras are overrun by gangs, he said, and those gangs threaten the United States. Health facilities, schools, and basic infrastructure are absent from wide swatches of the countries.

Leaders confronting threats

But, Kelly said, the leaders of the nations are committed to taking on the challenges and especially are willing to go after the drug cartels.

Those leaders "have bounties of millions on their heads," the general said. "Their children have bounties. Yet they are going ahead."

The United States has spent millions in the region to little effect, the general said. Local participation is crucial to success and that is something that often has not been sought in the past.

Another aspect of a campaign plan, Kelly said, is that every aspect of it reinforces every other aspect. So the U.S. Agency for International Development has a role that reinforces economic development that reinforces security that reinforces rule of law and so on. For the United States, its diplomacy, economic development, law enforcement and military realms must work hand-in-glove with each other and with Latin American allies to move a campaign plan along, the general said.

This can happen, Kelly said. The presidents of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, he added, have developed a regional plan to address the problems of the area. They have vowed to work together to address the root causes.

Kelly said an interesting aspect of this is that Colombia is one of the nations assisting the region the most.

"The Colombians are exporting peace now," he said.

(Follow Jim Garamone on Twitter: @garamoneDoDNews)