Mexico, Central America Discuss War on Drugs at Costa Rica Summit Agence France-Presse
go to original February 20, 2013

Leaders of Mexico and Central America on Wednesday opened a summit focused on trade and the relentless violence sweeping the region from the US-backed war on drug trafficking.

The United States says 90 percent of the cocaine shipped from South America passes through Mexico and Central America.

In Mexico alone some 70,000 people have died in drug-related violence since the government deployed the military to fight drug cartels.

"We need a regional perspective to overcome the social ravages that our countries face" said Mexico's new President Enrique Pena Nieto. "We need a close dialogue to strengthen peace."

Central America in the 1980s was ravaged by civil wars, and now finds itself again awash in blood as its serves as a gateway to the north, with penetration from Mexican cartels and grinding poverty that makes lucrative drug trafficking hard to resist.

The violence has mainly affected an area known as the Northern Triangle consisting of Honduras, likened to one big airport for secret drug flights; Guatemala, penetrated by the most bloodthirsty of the cartels, Los Zetas; and El Salvador, which is enjoying a respite after a truce among street gangs.

The summit here in the capital of Costa Rica was attended by Nieto, Guatemalan President Otto Perez, President Porfirio Diaz of Honduras and Panama's President Ricardo Martinelli.

Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and El Salvador's President Mauricio Funi said they could not attend, but they sent representatives to the meeting.

Read the whole story at GlobalPost

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