Whack-a-mole: Paying Attention to Central America's Drug Trafficking Crisis

From the Brookings Institution, a good, over-all analysis of the increasingly critical problems in Central America related to the drug trade. It discusses the needs, similar to those in Mexico, for reforms in the countries' police and judiciaries, tax collection and ecomomic development. It also raises, at the end, the need for the U.S. to "rethink the failed status quo of the so-called War on Drugs" and consider alterantives, including "the legalization of some drugs."

Paying Attention to Central America's Drug Trafficking Crisis - Brookings Institution: "When President Barack Obama signed the annual list of countries with major drug trafficking or drug producing problems last September, five of six Central American countries made the cut. The list provides tangible support for thinking that is now prevalent in Washington’s policy circles: Central America’s drug-related security plight has reached the level of crisis. The situation in Central America is arguably as grave as in Mexico, which is currently attracting a vast majority of news headlines. Moreover, Central America’s drug trafficking and related violence are unlikely to get better any time soon." Oct. 28, 2010