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Published
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Top
U.S. Navy official to
explain enhanced patrols By the A.M. Costa Rica staff The leader of the U.S. Southern Command plans a bilingual telephone interview Friday with Costa Rican news professionals to explain the beefed up U.S. military presence in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean. The man is Admiral Craig S. Faller, who has headed the U.S. operations in this area since Nov. 26, 2018. U.S. President Donald Trump announced April 1 that his country would increase anti-drug operations in the region. The U.S Southern Command said that the effort would include more U.S. Navy destroyers and littoral combat ships, more U.S. Coast Guard cutters, more helicopters, Customs and Border Protection maritime patrol aircraft, and Navy P-8 and U.S. Air Force surveillance aircraft. The command, based in Florida, was not specific about numbers. It did say that the new additions would double capabilities. It also said that 22 nations, including Costa Rica, are supporting the enhanced operation. In fact, it named Costa Rica as one of a handful of key national partners. Faller, a Pennsylvania native and a 1983 U.S. Naval Academy graduate, has held high-level jobs in Washington, including senior military assistant to the secretary of Defense, executive assistant to the chief of naval operations, chief of Navy legislative affairs and commander of the U,.S. Central Command, which has responsibilities for the Middle East, Afghanistan, Iraq and the rest of Central Asia. He also has held a number of positions at sea and commanded a carrier strike force involved in Operations New Dawn in Iraq and Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Ships of the Southern Command and allied forces have had a presence in the Caribbean and Pacific for years. U.S. president Richard Nixon authorized what has been called the U.S. War on Drugs in 1971. Quickly it became highly controversial and became associated with U.S. political ambitions in Latin America, including confronting left-wing rebellions in Colombia and in Nicaragua. Latin guerrilla groups turned to the drug trade to finance their military efforts. Many in the United States and elsewhere have declared the War on Drugs. Trump repeatedly has said that illegal immigrants to the United States frequently functions as mules carrying illegal drugs in backpacks across the southern border. The U.S. State Department has long identified Costa Rica as a transit point for drug shipments. Much of the illegal drugs arrive in Costa Rica by small boat and then continue the trip north hidden in truck, However, there also are illicit aircraft flights that use clandestine landing fields in Costa Rica and elsewhere in travels north. Drug cartels continue to be creative in devising shipment strategies. Lately submarines and semi-submersibles have been used to avoid detection. Faller's telephone interview appears to be a public relations initiative to gain public support for the enhanced anti-drug activities. Some, however, have claimed that Trump is using the anti-drug effort to deflect U.S. public attention from the administration's response to the current Chinese virus wave. That probably is not accurate because the strategies on which the April 1announcement are based show that they have been developed over a number of months. The White House said that cartels, criminals, and others may try to exploit the virus crisis to threaten Americans and that drug trafficking can increase the spread of the disease. The U.S. government has been roundly criticized for failing to address the national opioid crisis involving misuse of prescription pain relievers and the illegal use of heroin and synthetics such as fentanyl. The U.S. government estimated in 2017 that 130 people a day die in that country due to opioid abuse. Trump last year declared opioids a national emergency. The illegal heroin and fentanyl are smuggled into the United States, and fentanyl-laced heroin is in use. Nearly all the fentanyl comes from China as do many similar illegal substances. What may be the first interdiction under the new U.S. effort is a Costa Rican fishing boat. The U.S. Coast Guard and Costa Rican authorities seized approximately 1,700 pounds of cocaine April 9 from the fishing boat in international waters of the Pacific Ocean off Central America. The Southern Command said that the cocaine had an estimated value of more than $29 million. The boat, the Amanda M, had a crew of four Costa Ricans. The Coast Guard transferred the four suspected smugglers to Costa Rican authorities for further legal actions, the Southern Command said. Faller recently was in Washington to testify on Capitol Hill regarding his portion of the Department of Defense fiscal year 2021 budget request, said the command, adding that the admiral discussed with lawmakers the importance of maintaining a competitive edge in Central and South America. "It's our assessment that the neighborhood's becoming an increasingly contested strategic space in the global competition with China and Russia," he said. "And we do maintain our positional advantage here. However, that advantage is eroding and it's challenging our ability to maintain the favorable balance of regional power that's strictly called for here in this hemisphere in the National Defense Strategy." ------------------- 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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