The governments of the Northern Triangle of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras) will create a tri-national force to combat organized crime, with a special target on gangs, following an agreement signed Saturday in the Salvadoran capital by defense and security authorities.

The proposal, called “Elite Security Group” was suggested by Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who recently moved the idea to the governments of the neighboring countries, and today the final agreement was ready for the leaders of the three countries for approval.

The Salvadoran Minister of Justice and Security, Mauricio Ramirez Landaverde, explained that the initiative aims to take action against major threats affecting the three countries, with emphasis on the situation of organized “maras” gangs.

In addition, the project will target structures of organized crime engaged in drug trafficking, illegal arms trafficking, trafficking in persons, extortion and kidnapping.

He added that an operational plan utilizing border security measures will work with police, military and intelligence agencies of the countries involved.

Minister of the Interior of Guatemala, Francisco Rivas, said that the plan also involves “an exchange of information on investigations of transnational crime that develops in each country” with the aim that “actions will be carried out in the best possible way for positive results”.

Meanwhile, the head of security of Honduras, Julian Pacheco Tinoco said the proposal also seeks in the future to “create new public policies to be implemented in the region and ultimately exert influence for better results in the fight against delinquency”.

The proposal will be analyzed by the presidents of the three countries, who will meet “probably” next week to approve the plan and provide guarantees for the authorities to implement it as soon as possible, according to Salvadoran Minister of Defense David Munguía Payes.

The representatives of the three Central American countries indicated that each of their governments has the “necessary financial resources to enact the measures envisaged in the plan.”

Prior to this meeting, prosecutors from the North Triangle gathered Thursday in Guatemala, where they signed an agreement in which they decided to unify research and computer systems to combat gangs.

The heads of the Public Prosecutor (MP) of Guatemala, Thelma Aldana; El Salvador, Douglas Melendez, and of Honduras, Oscar Chinchilla, acknowledged that the “maras” transnational groups are negatively and continually affecting the region and the security of citizens.

Many communities in Central America, especially in the Northern Triangle, face regular threats of violence even though there are no conventional wars there, and this situation seriously affects the life of a region marked by poverty, and where large numbers of people decide to emigrate to the United States and Mexico.

To address this violence and the lack of opportunities that spur migration, last February US President Barack Obama asked Congress for $750 million dollars worth of aid for Central America within the budget for fiscal 2017.

The $750 million would be added to another $750 million approved by Congress last December to strengthen the institutions of the countries of origin of most undocumented migrants: Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, under the name the Plan of the Partnership for Prosperity. EFE

San Salvador, Aug 13 (EFE)