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1 [1] (March 1, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govyay0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Caribbean Basin Security Initiative Updated March 1, 2019 In 2009, the United States developed the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), a regional U.S. foreign assistance program, through a process of dialogue with Caribbean countries. The initiative seeks to reduce illicit trafficking in the region, advance public safety and security, and promote social justice. Because of their geographic location, many Caribbean nations are vulnerable to being used as transit countries for illicit drugs from South America destined for the U.S. and European markets. Strengthened U.S. counternarcotics cooperation with Mexico and Central America-through the M6rida Initiative and the Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI)-led U.S. policymakers to anticipate a potential increase in narcotics trafficking through the Caribbean. Many Caribbean countries have also suffered high rates of violent crime, including murder, often associated with drug trafficking activities. President Obama announced the initiative at the fifth Summit of the Americas in April 2009. U.S. and Caribbean representatives followed up with several meetings in the region in 2009 and then in 2010, held an inaugural Caribbean-U.S. Security Cooperation Dialogue in Washington DC, which approved a declaration of principles, a framework for engagement, and a broad action plan. Seven additional Caribbean-U.S. security dialogues have been held, with the most recent in November 2017 in the Dominican Republic. Congress has supported funding for the CBSI. From FY2010 through FY2019, Congress appropriated almost $617 million for the CBSI benefiting 13 Caribbean countries-Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago (see Table 1 and Figure 1). For FY2017, the Obama Administration requested $48.4 million for the CBSI; however, Congress appropriated $57.7 million, the same as for FY2016. For each of FY2018 and FY2019, the Trump Administration requested $36.2 million, about a 37% decrease from FY2017, but Congress rejected those cuts. For FY2018, Congress appropriated $57.7 million in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (P.L. 115-141; H.R. 1625, Explanatory Statement, Division K), the same as in FY2017. For FY2019, Congress appropriated $58 million for the CBSI in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019 (P.L. 116-6, H.J.Res. 31, conference report H.Rept. 116-9). In addition, both the law and accompanying conference report direct federal departments and agencies to comply with reporting requirements contained in the House and Senate versions of the FY2019 State Department and Foreign Operations appropriations bills in the 115th Congress. The report to the House bill (H.Rept. 115-829 to H.R. 6385) directs the Secretary of State, in coordination with the USAID Administrator, to provide the Committees on Appropriations a report on the uses of all funds provided for the CBSI on a country-by-country basis for each program, project, and activity for FY2010 through FY2018. Coordinated by the State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere affairs and implemented largely by the State Department, USAID, and the Department of Defense, the CBSI has targeted U.S. assistance in five areas: * Maritime and Aerial Security Cooperation, including assistance to strengthen Caribbean maritime and aerial operations capability, improve radar coverage, and sustain those capabilities; * Law Enforcement Capacity Building, including assistance to improve law enforcement though police professionalization, anti-corruption training, and community-based policing; * Border/Port Security and Firearms Interdiction, including support to improve capacity to intercept smuggled narcotics, weapons, bulk cash, and other contraband at airports and seaports; * Justice Sector Reform, including support to increase the efficacy of prosecutors and criminal courts and reform and strengthen juvenile justice systems; and * Crime Prevention and At-Risk Youth, including assistance to populations vulnerable to being victims of crime or at risk of recruitment into criminal organizations. Although the State Department has not published CBSI funding statistics by country, a February 2019 U.S. Government Accountability Office report shows that from FY2010 through FY2018, the Dominican Republic received almost 23% of CBSI funding and Jamaica just over 19%. In December 2016, Congress enacted P.L. 114-291, the United States-Caribbean Strategic Engagement Act of 2016. The measure required the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Administrator of US AID, to submit a multiyear strategy to Congress for U.S. engagement with the Caribbean region. Among its provisions, the law required the strategy to include an approach to partner with Caribbean governments to improve citizen security, reduce drug trafficking, strengthen the rule of law, and improve the effectiveness and longevity of the CBSI. The State Department's multiyear strategy, issued in June 2017, included the objectives of strengthening mutual national security and advancing the citizens' safety through programs to dismantle criminal and terrorist organizations, curb the trafficking of illicit goods and people, strengthen the rule of law, improve citizen security, and counter https://crsreports.congress.gov