Dr. Valenzuela, who recently came to The Bahamas, is scheduled to meet with senior government officials to discuss issues of mutual interest, including the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), economic opportunities and compositeness, energy, environment and health initiatives.
On Monday he met with members of the media where he fielded questions on a variety of issues.
As it related to the drug war, Dr. Valenzuela said the U.S. is happy that The Bahamas is being so cooperative.
"As I look at the Caribbean as a whole, I can’t think of any country where there is a better, longer term cooperation on a whole host of law enforcement issues, than with The Bahamas," Dr. Valenzuela said.
"There’s been just a terrific cooperation. The professionalism of the police and the armed forces is very high. So we’ve been able to have a good cooperation."
But for just one country to be 100 per cent on deck is not enough.
Dr. Valenzuela said for the drug war to be completely successful more cooperation from other Caribbean countries is needed.
"We want that to be strengthened further with the CBSI," he added. "We are looking at ways we can look at all of the Caribbean countries. We have to realise that these are transnational threats."
"The criminal organisations don’t know any boundaries and the drug traffickers don’t know ant boundaries, so we need to find a way to strengthen our relationship with all of these countries."
Dr. Valenzuela also spoke about the millions of dollars pledged to Haiti, that some believe has been rather slow in getting there.
The assistant U.S. secretary of state said Haiti has not been forgotten.
Dr. Valenzuela is also scheduled to travel to Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
- Austin DWI - New York DWI