News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C., Fri. Sept. 16, 2011: Latin American nations, El Salvador and Belize have been blacklisted by the U.S.
US President Barack Obama added both countries to a blacklist of nations considered major producers or transit routes for illegal drugs. The US president is required to notify Congress each year of major drug producing and transit nations.
Officials said cartels were using the two Central American nations as routes for smuggling cocaine from South America north to Mexico and the US.
In total, 22 countries were included on the drugs blacklist.
Central American countries – Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama – are already on the blacklist, as were Mexico and major cocaine producers Colombia and Peru.
Three were deemed to have “failed demonstrably” in the fight against drugs – Burma, Bolivia and Venezuela.
