HOMICIDES LINKED TO EASY ACCESS TO GUNS FROM USA & ILLICIT DRUG TRADE
Ralph Gonsalves, the prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, has urged American government officials to take action against the ease with which firearms are imported into and exported from Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) nations.
Gonsalves lamented the proliferation of firearms made in the US and the violence connected to the illicit drug trade as the primary reasons for a high murder rate in several nations in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) on Monday, January 9th, on Star Radio’s Morning Scoop show.
Gonsalves refuted accusations that murders in SVG are related to rising frustration among Vincentians by pointing out that SVG has the fourth-lowest suicide rate in the world, currently standing at one per 100K.
The Prime Minister argued that the “hundreds of fire arms, and they are connected to the drug trade, it’s not frustration it’s greed,” said Dr. Gonsalves, while urging an all-society approach to stop the rise in all illegal and other criminal activities. He claimed that seven of the ten countries with the highest homicide rates per 100K in the world are from the Latin American and Caribbean region.
The Prime Minister, who also serves as Minister of National Security, also urged the judicial system and local police to support the police’s presence on the ground, improve police visibility, gather intelligence, and take action on that intelligence.
According to a geospatial map of mainland St. Vincent, the prime minister also said that most homicides in the nation had happened inside a 20 square mile area, where 55–60K people live.
On January 24, 2023, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) will convene to consider a resolution that was submitted by Mexico under the title “Special Declaration on the Fight Against Illicit Arms Trafficking.”
“The heads of state and government of Latin America and the Caribbean are meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the occasion of the seventh summit of the Community of Latin America and the Caribbean. On January 24, 2023, CELAC acknowledged that while the region represents 8% of the world’s population, it experiences 37% of the world’s homicide, mostly caused by firearms that have been marked, manufactured, or distributed in the United States and then trafficked in the region”.
The initiatives, according to Prime Minister Gonsalves, are pro-St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the broader region rather than being anti-American. He emphasized once more the importance of instilling work ethic and discipline in homes, churches, schools, and communities across SVG rather than turning to violence and crime.
