The Colombian Military Forces began 2021 with major operations against narcotrafficking. The Navy seized more than 1.5 tons of cocaine on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, and the Army found three coca base paste labs in the Amazon region. On January 10, units of the Colombian Navy’s Cartagena Coast Guard [ … ]
Transnational Threats
Paraguay: Anti-Drug Agents Seize Nearly 9 Tons of Marijuana
The Paraguayan National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD, in Spanish) began its activities in 2021 by seizing 8.7 tons of marijuana in Canindeyú department. During the January 8 operation, agents seized 5,550 kilograms of chopped marijuana and 3,136 kg of pressed marijuana. For this, we entered a rural area known as Karupera, [ … ]
Colombian Army Captures Members of FARC Dissident Group
In late January, Colombian Army troops, in coordination with the National Police, captured seven members of Los Contadores, a dissident group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC, in Spanish) that engages in narcotrafficking in the Pacific coast of Colombia, the Army indicated in a press release. Among those [ … ]
Guatemala Captures Narcotrafficker Investigated by the US
On January 16, 2021, Guatemalan authorities captured Álvaro Rodolfo Oliva Reyes, a narcotrafficker investigated for participating in an organized crime ring that shipped cocaine from South America to the United States. “In Zacapa, anti-drug agents apprehended a man wanted for narcotrafficking. The detainee is Álvaro Rodolfo Oliva Reyes, age 47, [ … ]
Peru Destroys More than 42 Tons of Drugs in 2020
Throughout 2020, the Peruvian Ministry of the Interior’s Commission for the Destruction of Drugs Seized Due to Illicit Drug Trafficking destroyed more than 42 tons of cocaine, marijuana, and other illegal substances, the Ministry of the Interior said in a press release on January 2. “Among the drugs destroyed, there [ … ]
Coca Crops: A Growing Threat in Honduras
Inhospitable tropical forests with no vehicular access and close to the Atlantic Ocean are the preferred areas for criminal groups to grow coca crops in Honduras. This is what Army First Lieutenant José Antonio Coello, Honduran Armed Forces Communications officer, explained in an interview with Diálogo. Since the first coca [ … ]
Brazil’s National Anti-Drug Fund Registers Highest Revenue in 5 Years
Brazil’s National Anti-Drug Fund (FNA, in Portuguese) collected almost $26.5 million by the end of 2020. In comparison, the FNA collected more than $17 million in 2019. This was the fifth increase in revenue since 2016, when the fund registered almost $6 million. The FNA’s revenue is a combination of [ … ]
Colombia Captures Alias Pedro
In January 5, 2021, the Colombian National Police, through the Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Interpol (DIJIN, in Spanish) and the Colombian Office of the Attorney General, arrested Guatemalan citizen Harol Orlando Saldaña Natareno, alias Pedro, identified as the liaison in Colombia for Central American and Mexican cartels,. Saldaña has [ … ]
Chilean Police Attack Drug Production
Chile’s Investigations Police (PDI, in Spanish) started operations in 2021 attacking transnational criminal organizations and illicit drug production. Among other actions, it prevented the production of several tons of cocaine and destroyed marijuana plantations before the leaves could be harvested for sale. On January 18, the PDI reported on Twitter [ … ]
Representatives from SOUTHCOM, US Coast Guard, Attend IUU Fishing Conference
Over the last few years illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing has become widely recognized as a national security issue. According to the U.S. Coast Guard’s (USCG) 2020 Strategic Outlook, IUU has replaced piracy as the leading global maritime security threat. At the IUU Fishing Conference hosted by Florida International [ … ]
Paraguayan Anti-Drug Agents Conclude 2020 Dealing Blow to Narcotrafficking on Brazilian Border
The Paraguayan National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD, in Spanish) concluded 2020 continuing its fight against narcotrafficking. Among the most relevant operations carried out on the border with Brazil in December are the destruction of about 13.5 tons of marijuana and the dismantling of two cocaine processing labs. In a statement published [ … ]
Peru: Security Forces Eradicate More than 6,000 Hectares of Coca Crops in 2020
During 2020, the Special Project for Control and Reduction of Illegal Crops in Alto Huallaga (CORAH, in Spanish) eradicated 6,272.8 hectares of illegal coca crops, with support from the Peruvian National Police (PNP). Carlos León Romero, vice minister of Internal Order at the Peruvian Ministry of the Interior, presided over [ … ]