Public Security Minister Fernando Berrocal met yesterday morning with a top U.S. narcotics official on Tico turf this time, picking up where Berrocal left off after his recent visit to the United States early last month.

Yesterday in San José, the mission was the same: work toward stronger joint Coast Guard operations, particularly to curb drug trafficking and organized crime.

Rear Adm. Joseph Nimmich, commander of the Joint Interagency Task Force South in Key West, Florida, thanked the Costa Rican public security chief for the Central American nation's help in cracking down on the narcotics trade, said a statement from the Public Security Ministry.

The pat on the back could not come at a more opportune time, in light of Sunday's at-sea cocaine bust, the biggest this year.

In the past 16 months, the government has nabbed 60 metric tons of cocaine, an unprecedented figure by Latin American standards.

Berrocal urged Nimmich for greater U.S. cooperation in clamping down on narcotics, not just at sea, but also domestically, in school yards and on street corners, the statement said.

The meeting also touched on a three-year plan U.S. President George W. Bush sent to Congress that would invest millions of dollars to fight drug cartels in Mexico and Central America.

-Tico Times