Army Now Allowing UN and US to Observe Opium Poppy Eradication Efforts Michael O'Boyle - Reuters
go to original April 7, 2017

Mexico Enlists U.N. in War on Poppies (Wochit Politics)

For the first time in at least a decade, Mexico's army is allowing the United States and the United Nations to observe opium poppy eradication, a step toward deeper cooperation to fight heroin traffickers, three sources in Mexico said.

The opening could bring Mexico more in line with other drug producing countries like Afghanistan, Colombia and Peru that have been heavily involved with the United Nations in cultivation studies and eradication efforts.

The Mexican army hopes to gain more credit at home and abroad for its work and address doubts in Washington about the quality of its data and the success of the eradication program, the officials said.

Last week, the army flew U.S. military, U.N. and embassy officials into the heart of Mexico's heroin country to witness the destruction of fields of opium poppies, according to two of the officials with knowledge of the operation.

The ride-along marked the first time Mexico's army has allowed U.S. and U.N. officials to observe its efforts since it took over most drug eradication activities in 2007, and three more site visits are in the works, according to one of the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, owing to the sensitivity of the matter.

The army is also preparing to implement by this summer hardware and software developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to allow soldiers to file data to headquarters on destroyed fields in real time, two of the officials said.

Read the rest at Reuters

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!