The United States government has allocated $77 million in the 2011 fiscal year for its Caribbean Basin Security Initiative.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made the announcement earlier this week at a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) meeting in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
The sum also marks an increase of more than 70 percent of what was allocated in 2010 for the initiative.
A comprehensive regional approach is necessary in the fight against drug trafficking to avoid pushing violence from one country to another, she said.
“We have worked with The Bahamas to train police officers on detecting firearms trafficking and begun to certify drug abuse facilities throughout the Caribbean,” she said.
