Hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) anchored off the coast of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in support of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet’s Continuing Promise 2022 (CP22) mission, November 27. The Comfort will hold subject matter expert exchanges with Dominican partners; Women, Peace, and Security seminars; humanitarian assistance [ … ]
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Narcotrafficking Targets Uruguay’s Main Port
Uruguayan authorities have been paying close attention to the operations of transnational criminal organizations that move drugs to Europe from the Port of Montevideo, the South American country’s main maritime terminal, where significant cocaine shipments have been seized since 2019. “The Uruguayan port terminal is strategic for transnational organized crime,” [ … ]
US Sanctions Nicaraguan Gold Industry
On October 24, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the Nicaraguan Ministry of Energy and Mines’ (MEME) General Directorate of Mines (DGM), which the Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo regime use to finance its authoritarian and destabilizing activities, the Treasury said in a statement. The sanctions come under a new Executive [ … ]
Colombian Navy Leads Multinational Operations Against Transnational Crime
In two mid-October operations, the Colombian Navy, with the support of U.S., Costa Rican, and Mexican forces, dealt a hard blow to transnational narcotrafficking organizations by seizing 3.7 tons of cocaine off the Pacific coast of Central America, the naval institution said in a statement. [caption id="attachment_78200" align="alignright" width="300"] The [ … ]
Colombia Captures 15 International Narcotraffickers
On October 12, the Colombian Navy, the Colombian Attorney General’s Office, and the National Police captured 15 narcotraffickers who were the backbone of a criminal network that shipped tons of cocaine hydrochloride from the Colombian Caribbean coast to Central America and Europe, the Colombian Navy said in a statement. During [ … ]
CARICOM Strengthens Cooperation Against Organized Crime
Caribbean countries are set to increase security in the region as criminal organizations resort to new methods to smuggle drugs and weapons. Regional countries are also calling on international alliances with security and anti-drug agencies for support, with the United States playing a key role. On October 26, U.S. Customs [ … ]
Russia Creates Disinformation Militia on Social Media
A multilingual Telegram channel sponsored by the Russian government serves as a repository for Russian propaganda videos about the war in Ukraine, Nisos, a U.S.-based digital intelligence firm that monitors disinformation and other cyberthreats, said in an October report. “The videos can be downloaded directly from Telegram and that erases [ … ]
Hospital Ship USNS Comfort in Cartagena: Brothers Helping Brothers
Those who think that because the hospital ship USNS Comfort belongs to the U.S. Navy, its crew — which includes doctors, dentists, surgeons, and other members of the health care field, among others — is composed only of U.S. professionals and military personnel are mistaken. You don’t have to look [ … ]
China’s Ground Stations in South America Raise Concerns
In an early October report, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, highlighted the growing concerns over China’s space footprint in South America. Its expanding ground stations in the region could be intercepting sensitive information, the report Eyes on the Skies indicated. “China [ … ]
Perry Center Hosts Diplomats for Washington Security and Defense Seminar
The William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies recently convened representatives from the Latin American and Caribbean diplomatic community for its 2022 Washington Security and Defense Seminar (WSDS), held November 1-3, in Washington, D.C. The annual three-day seminar featured more than 30 top officials, scholars, and policy experts who [ … ]
Colombian Navy Leads International Riverine Operations Training
The Colombian Navy, with the support of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), held an international training course in Riverine Operations at the facilities of the International Center for Advanced Riverine Excellence (CIEAF), in Turbo, Antioquia. Twenty-four members of the security forces of Costa Rica, Ecuador, and [ … ]
Bolivia and Peru Face Narcotrafficking Together
Peru and Bolivia committed to join and strengthen their efforts to combat narcotrafficking during the IX Meeting of the Bolivian-Peruvian Joint Commission held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, in late September. Exchanging information on illegal narco aircraft that fly over the airspace on the border between both nations and exchanging experiences [ … ]