US to support Guatemala in Operation Martillo

By Dialogo
August 22, 2012

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala – About 171 U.S. Marines will support Guatemalan security forces as part of the Operation Martillo initiative, authorities said on Aug. 21.
Operation Martillo is an international operation that gathers Western Hemisphere and European nations in an effort to curtail illicit trafficking routes on both coasts of the Central American isthmus.
Guatemalan Defense Minister Ulises Anzueto said the operation would last two months. The goal is to neutralize narco-trafficking groups that smuggle drugs through the Guatemalan Pacific coast.
The Marines will operate in six southwestern departments. In the joint operation, some 2,000 Guatemalan soldiers will participate, according to Anzueto.
[AFP (Guatemala), 21/08/2012; Prensa Libre (Guatemala), 22/08/2012]