EL SALVADOR'S REGIONAL SECURITY PLAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN SALVADOR 000837

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR D FISK

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL KCRM KHLS ES GT HO MX
SUBJECT: EL SALVADOR'S REGIONAL SECURITY PLAN

REF: A. SAN SALVADOR 273

B. SAN SALVADOR 814

Classified By: Ambassador Charles L. Glazer for Reasons
1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) On April 30, Polcouns met with Director of the
National Civil Police (PCN) Rodrigo Avila to review progress
on El Salvador's draft Regional Security Strategy. Avila,
who is leading the GOES efforts to draft this strategy,
reported that the GOES hosted a technical meeting on April 23
as a follow on to the Campeche Summit. He said that
Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico sent representatives to the
meeting, and that significant progress is being made on the
Regional Security Strategy. (Note: Costa Rica and Nicaragua
did not attend, and Avila believes Nicaragua purposefully
excluded themselves from the meeting because they align
themselves with Chavez and do not want to give Mexico a more
prominent role in regional affairs. End Note). Avila
reported that significant progress was made in following
areas:

--Anti-Drug Efforts: Proposals for establishing criteria for
region-wide interdiction efforts; for the distribution of
funds and property seized from illicit activities; and to
strengthen of mechanisms for the exchange of information;

--Judicial Efforts: Proposals for a Central America-wide
cooperation convention for the protection of witnesses and
victims; to hasten efforts to put into effect a Central
American Arrest Warrant; to coordinate a "red alert" system
for Central America; for all countries that do not legally
allow wire-tapping to pursue reforms to legalize it; to
create mechanisms to deal with value lost and damage to
stolen vehicles and other property that are returned to their
owners under the Central American Treaty on the Return and
Recuperation of Stolen Vehicles and Other Properties;

--Police Efforts: Proposal for each country to assign police
attaches in their Central American embassies and mount
region-wide efforts to recover stolen vehicles;

--Anti-Gang Efforts: Creation of a Transnational Anti-Gang
Center (TAG) and utilization of Interpol I-24/7;

--Training: Expand existing training initiatives between
Mexico and Central America, and focus further on training to
staunch the flow of precursor chemicals and synthetic drugs.


2. (C) Avila reports that progress is being made in the
elaboration of a specific plan for each of these proposals
and that he will provide post with a copy of the final
written strategy as soon as it is completed. Post will
report on this document septel.
Glazer