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Published Monday, April 13,
2020
The U.S.
Coast Guard arrests Costa Ricans with
alleged drug shipmentBy the A.M. Costa Rica staff The U.S. Coast Guard, as part of its patrol operations in the Pacific Ocean, detained four Costa Ricans on April 7 for the alleged crime of shipping cocaine cargo. U.S. Coast Guard officials intercepted the Costa Rican registered boat named Amanda, 87 nautical miles west of Golfito Port in Puntarenas Province, reported the authorities. The work of the U.S. Coast Guard is part of a joint patrol between Costa Rica and the United States. Therefore, the Coast Guard was informed by Costa Rican authorities to coordinate the process of transferring the drugs and the detained suspects. According to the police report, only one of the four detained had a criminal record. The man surnamed Walsh Marroquin, 40, was previously arrested for breaking the Psychotropic Law. The rest had not been previously arrested: a man surnamed Castillo - Gamboa, 29 years old, a man surnamed Calvo - Gómez, 22 years old, and a man surnamed Chavarría - Mendoza, 65 years old. After proceeding with the ship's interception, U.S. officials found 771 packages of cocaine cargo hidden inside the ship, each pack weighing approximately one kilogram. On Friday, police from the National Coast Guard Service and the Drug Control Police sailed 27 nautical miles off the coast of Puntarenas to receive the four suspects and the boat intercepted at sea. The Costa Rican authorities proceeded with the seizure of the drugs and the transfer of the suspects to the cells in the Public Ministry. A Puntarenas criminal court judge ordered four months of pre-trial prison against them.  Related to the U.S. Government supporting countries in the fight against drug trafficking, in March the U.S. Southern Command, SOUTHCOM, discussed plans to increase U.S. military presence in the Western Hemisphere. Although budget cuts have affected SOUTHCOM, they continue their plan to partner for security programs that help Latin American partners counter drug cartels, according to Voice Of America journal. In a written testimony on Wednesday, SOUTHCOM commander Admiral Craig Faller said the U.S. “only enabled the successful interdiction of about 9% of known drug movement” recently in Latin America and the Caribbean. Faller told the House Armed Services Committee that he'd need significant assets to drastically improve that number, including dozens of ships. “Recognizing these complex challenges in our neighborhood, we will see an increase in U.S. military presence in the hemisphere,” Faller said, speaking to reporters at the Pentagon after the briefing. According to VOA, the increase, which is coinciding with a Pentagon review of the command, will include more ships, aircraft and forces, said Faller, who declined to discuss numbers. But the increase will not be enough to fully counter the threats, which is “why it's so important to get partners in the game," Faller added. Last year, half of U.S. drug interdictions in the region were enabled by local partner forces, according to SOUTHCOM. The need for more partner participation comes as the latest Pentagon budget slashes SOUTHCOM’s partner security program funds by about 20 precent. "That reduction will mean we’ll have to make some choices and have to defund some programs … that have increased our partners’ ability to do things like counternarcotics,” Faller said. He added that the increased military presence would help the U.S. offset short-term losses to security cooperation program funding. But he acknowledged that “there might be some areas where we'll take risks as we look in the future.” The Pentagon’s failure to prioritize the geographic command responsible for counternarcotic operations south of the U.S. has hurt its citizens, Republican Representative Austin Scott of Georgia said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on national security challenges in the Western Hemisphere. "All of the additional money we've given [to defense] has been transferred to other priorities and not to the priority that is resulting in more deaths than any other area," Scott said, adding that the U.S. saw tens of thousands die last year from drug overdose. Scott scolded administration officials for giving the command “what’s leftover” in intelligence and surveillance abilities after fulfilling other region needs. SOUTHCOM’s budget for this year is $1.2 billion, which is 1/14th of what was spent in Afghanistan alone, added VOA in its report. ------------------------ Should the U.S. Coast Guard increase their presence in Latin American countries' territorial sea to fight against the drug trafficking? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com |
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