A Dominican police officer arrives to close a bar at the Colonial Zone in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2006. They take "last call" seriously in this Caribbean country these days, it's enforced by armed soldiers and police. All bars, liquor stores and nightclubs must close at midnight on weekdays and at 2 a.m. weekends because of a measure the government imposed in July to combat crime. No law stops people from staying out longer, but the presence of 8,000 officers on any given night, effectively clears the streets. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

The Caribbean’s geographic location and countless islands make it a huge transshipment route for drugs heading to the United States, a dynamic that has fostered high rates of violence and gang-related crime.