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Transnational Crime The Colombian Navy seized 3.8 tons of narcotics in its territorial waters and shared information with partner nations to intercept 5 tons of drugs, in five operations carried out in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, September 22-30. Units of the Buenaventura Coast Guard Station reported on September 30 that after several minutes of pursuit they caught up with…
Transnational Crime Peru’s Armed Forces and National Police (PNP, in Spanish) have joined efforts to combat narcotics and terrorism. The focus of the joint operations is the Apurímac, Ene, and Mantaro Rivers Valley (VRAEM, in Spanish), a region where about 70 percent of the local cocaine is produced. On October 14, service members detained two narcotraffickers carrying 400 kilograms of drugs, two…
Transnational Crime In September, the Paraguayan National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD, in Spanish) dismantled four urban clandestine labs that produced so-called “VIP marijuana,” the most expensive variety in the market. This is a new marijuana strain with high levels of THC, the main psychoactive substance in cannabis. “The network produced marijuana strains with THC levels of 20 to 30 percent,” SENAD said in…
Transnational Crime In the last week of September, units of the Colombian Navy’s Pacific Naval Force seized more than 2.6 tons of drugs, including marijuana and cocaine, in three operations carried out in the Valle del Cauca department. The first seizure took place in the Punta Ají area, where units of the Buenaventura Coast Guard Station detected a speedboat that attempted to…
South America The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing $100,000 to support the response of the government of Colombia to assist people affected by Hurricane Iota. On November 16, 2020, the powerful Category 5 storm passed over Colombia’s Providencia, San Andrés, and Santa Catalina islands, where heavy rainfall, flooding, and storm surges caused widespread damage. This…
Security & Cooperation A U.S. Air Force C-130 transported 68 Colombian Army soldiers to the Colombian island of San Andrés on November 23, to support post-Hurricane Iota lifesaving and disaster-relief operations in the nearby Colombian island of Providencia. The plane transported the troops from Cartagena, Colombia, along with 40,000 pounds of food and water. The C-130, from the 317th Air Wing, Dyess Air…
Transnational Crime In less than a week, the Brazilian Federal Police (PF, in Portuguese) seized close to 2,300 kilograms of cocaine bound for Europe. The shipments were found in three of the country’s main ports. On October 5, police officers seized 472 kg of cocaine at the Port of Salvador, in Bahia. “The drug was hidden in a cargo of iron ore bound…
Security & Cooperation The United States provided humanitarian assistance to Guatemala in the aftermath of tropical storm Eta, serving approximately 310,000 Guatemalans in 25 communities affected by Tropical Storm Eta in nine departments (Quiché, Petén, Izabal, Zacapa, Chiquimula, Alta Verapaz, Jutiapa, El Progreso, and Santa Rosa). The assistance included 23 rescues, 39 evacuations, more than $363,000 in direct humanitarian aid as well as hundreds…
Central America Only days after supporting Central American countries, following the devastation caused by Hurricane Eta, teams of U.S. Southern Command’s (SOUTHCOM) Joint Task Force Bravo (JTF-Bravo) are back in Honduras and Guatemala to provide assistance to areas affected by Hurricane Iota. Both hurricanes hit Central America within two weeks, causing landslides and flooding that displaced entire communities and left dozens of…
Transnational Crime Democracy must be restored in Venezuela because undermining a democracy anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere, experts say. “This is a country where Maduro has not only taken over most of the bigger opposition parties and tried to replace their leadership with his puppets,” said on September 1, Michael G. Kozak, acting assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs at…
Transnational Crime From November 13, 2019 to October 12, 2020, the Bolivian Special Force to Fight Drug Trafficking (FELCN, in Spanish) seized more than 14.1 tons of cocaine and 438.6 tons of marijuana, totaling 452.7 tons of drugs. The FELCN made the announcement in a press release on October 13. During numerous operations, agents destroyed a total of 32 crystallization labs, 35 recycling…
Transnational Crime The Ecuadorean Navy reported the result of an operation achieved through binational collaboration, after the Colombian Navy provided intelligence to carry out the interdiction of a suspicious speedboat in the Pacific Ocean. “A total of 1,157 brick-type packages, each with 1,000 grams of controlled substances, a vessel, three engines, and three Ecuadorean nationals, were the results of the maritime operations…
