The United States donated the second Cessna 208 EX Grand Caravan aircraft to Honduras to bolster the Central American country's fight against drug trafficking and support humanitarian relief efforts. The Honduran Air Force (FAH) is strengthening its ability to respond to drug trafficking and organized crime with a new Cessna [ … ]
Transnational Threats
Panama’s New SENAFRONT Commissioner Aims to Build on Agency’s Success
Commissioner Cristian Hayer says working in cooperation with partner nations' security forces has been a key component of SENAFRONT's strategy. The new commissioner of Panama's National Border Service (SENAFRONT), Cristian Hayer, is determined to build on the law enforcement agency's successes in fighting organized crime, drug trafficking, and guerrilla groups. [ … ]
Costa Rican Police, Communities Join Forces to Prevent Youth Crime
Costa Rican Security Vice Minister María Fullmen discusses joint police-community efforts to prevent crimes by children, teenagers, and young adults. Costa Rican security forces are working closely with civilians to prevent crime throughout the country. The Community Safety Program, an initiative from the Public Security Ministry, focuses its efforts on [ … ]
Panama Seizes Highest Volume of Drugs in 15 Years
The Panamanian Ministry of Public Security's law enforcement agencies seized 58.11 tons of drugs in 2015, the most in the past 15 years, according to the National Integrated Criminal Statistics System (SIEC) and the Prosecutor’s Office. Law enforcement agencies under Panama’s Ministry of Public Security seized 58.11 tons of drugs [ … ]
Elite FUSINA Force Credited For Drop in Honduras Homicides
Honduras' National Inter-Agency Security Force (FUSINA), composed of Armed Forces Troops, National Police agents and other law enforcement officers, has been credited with the dramatic drop in the rate of killings in the country. The homicide rate in Honduras has dropped dramatically in recent years, and authorities credit the efforts [ … ]
El Salvador Joins SOUTHCOM Radar System to Combat Drug Trafficking
The Cooperative Situational Information Integration System enables the sharing of aerial radar trace information and allows for real-time communication between operators in different countries. To improve the exchange of information that facilitates aerial counter-narcotics operations, El Salvador integrated its air traffic control radars into the U.S. Southern Command’s (SOUTHCOM) Cooperative [ … ]
St. Kitts and Nevis, a Sentinel in the Trafficking Transit Zone
Diálogo took advantage of the XIV Caribbean Nations Security Conference in Kingston, Jamaica during the last week of January to talk to Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Wallace, Commander, St. Kitts and Nevis Defence Force, about the country's security priorities. St. Kitts and Nevis is the smallest sovereign state in the Americas, [ … ]
DEA and European Authorities Uncover Massive Hezbollah Drug and Money Laundering Scheme
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced significant enforcement activity including arrests targeting Lebanese Hezbollah’s External Security Organization Business Affairs Component (BAC), which is involved in international criminal activities such as drug trafficking and drug proceed money laundering. The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on February 1st announced [ … ]
Costa Rica’s Special Operations Unit Cracks Down on Organized Crime
Five hundred agents with the Costa Rican Government's Special Operations Force have struck severe blows against organized crime in their first three months of service. The Special Operations Unit within Costa Rica's Public Security Force has been highly successful in its fight against narcotrafficking and organized crime groups since its [ … ]
Costa Rica Adds Interceptor Patrol Boat to Fight Organized Crime
Costa Rica added an Eduardoño 450 Interceptor patrol boat to its Coast Guard fleet to fight transnational criminal enterprises. Costa Rica’s National Coast Guard Service (SNGC, for its Spanish acronym) recently continued to bolster its investment in the counter-narcotics fight by adding an Eduardoño 450-model Patrol boat to the fleet [ … ]
The Fight Against Drug-Trafficking in the Jungles of Rio de Janeiro
Drug trafficking activities in Rio de Janeiro's forests present an increasing risk to public safety. Rio de Janeiro's megalopolis has more than 10 million inhabitants and more than 1,000 slums. The region's terrain is extremely rugged and covered with forests. Some of the mountainsides that make up this panorama were [ … ]
Costa Rica Educates Youth to Stay Away from Drugs
The Ministry of Public Security’s Air Surveillance Service and the Costa Rican Institute on Drugs launched the “Know how to choose, know how to win” program to teach young students from a public school to resist abusing or trafficking drugs. Officials from the Air Surveillance Service of Costa Rica's Ministry [ … ]