US commits $175M more to law enforcement fight

From left are Guyana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett and US Ambassador D Brent Hardt.

The United States says that it is laying the groundwork for a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office here as it yesterday committed an additional US$850,000 ($175M) to enhance law enforcement and counter the narcotics trade.

“We are moving forward…part of the process for the DEA working is they like to have a vetting unit … we are on the road to overcoming that and as part of this agreement, as I mentioned, there is funding for vetting units,” United States Ambassador Brendt Hardt said yesterday at the signing between Guyana and the US of an amendment to the ‘Letter of Agreement (LOA) on Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement’.

“The LOA will support a number of ongoing and new programmatic activities. Specifically it will help support and make fully operational the