Report Attacks Haiti's Ineffective Drug-Trafficking Enforcement

A 2013 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, issued not long ago, characterizes the pace of enforcement efforts as maddeningly slow. Too few check points and spotty air surveillance on Haiti's northern and southern shores is the primary cause. The laxity of enforcement permits shipments of drugs into the country from the southern end, and their movement out of the country in the north.

Policing agencies have been lacking enough manpower, management capabilities, and equipment to be more effective enforcement bodies. The Haitian National Police (HNP) netted the biggest cache of cocaine in 2012, the first such seizure of volume in five years, at more than $5 million. But the U.S. criticized the amount as "inadequate".

The HNP plans to add more police, 15,000 by December 2016. Haiti's Narcotics Bureau staffing is up by 30%, but the Haitian Coast Guard (HCG) needs more monitoring capabilities. The IC and the U.S. are working to make improvements to the HCG's growth initiative.

A strategic issue blocking better northern and southern border enforcement is Port-au-Prince's rise in crack cocaine usage. But an increase of narcotics units in the north signals the HNP is beginning to more closely monitor the movement of drugs along the main conduits of illegal commerce in Haiti.

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