WASHINGTON, United States – The US is promising to increase aid to the region to help fight the burgeoning drug trade.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said drug gangs in the region were “morphing into an insurgency” like the one that gripped Colombia two decades ago.

“These drug cartels are now showing more and more indices of insurgency,” Clinton told the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations, a foreign policy think tank yesterday.

“All of a sudden, car bombs show up, which weren't there before...it's looking more and more like Colombia looked 20 years ago, where the narco-traffickers control certain parts of the country,” she said.

She said the Obama administration is “working very hard” in assisting the region to improve its law enforcement and intelligence capabilities, and to detain and prosecute those arrested in drug trafficking.

Clinton said 'Plan Colombia,' — which channeled billions of dollars in US funds to the Colombian government to help defeat FARC rebels who financed their activities through the lucrative cocaine trade — has significantly improved conditions in Colombia.

“There were problems and there were mistakes, but it worked,” she said about the plan.

“We need to figure out what are the equivalents for Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean,” Clinton said, adding that Caribbean leaders were very concerned about the spiraling crime wave.

“And that's not easy.”

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