By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7, 2012 – Officials at
Joint Interagency Task Force South are welcoming the contributions that a
200-member Marine Corps detachment is making toward tracking drug traffickers
and other transnational criminals.
The Marines -- mostly from the 2nd
Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and Marine Forces South in
Miami -- deployed to Guatemala City at the Guatemalan government’s request Aug.
11, reported Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Earnest Barnes, Marine Forces South
spokesman.
Since their arrival, they have been
patrolling the skies over Guatemala’s littoral waters with four UH-1N Huey
helicopters, reporting suspicious activity as part of Joint Interagency Task
Force South’s Operation Martillo mission, which kicked off in January.
Detachment Martillo also is using
enhanced communications to increase the task force’s monitoring and detection
capabilities to help Guatemalan authorities quickly apprehend and prosecute
illicit traffickers, and seize their shipments, Barnes said.
Barnes emphasized that the Marines are
not directly involved in apprehending traffickers and are serving only in a
supporting role.
Air Force Brig. Gen. Steven J. DePalmer,
Joint Interagency Task Force South’s deputy director, praised the Marines’
contributions. “Our Marines are well-suited to work with the Guatemalans
against transnational organized crime. With their aerial surveillance
helicopters and communication support, the U.S. Marine detachment deployed in
support of Operation Martillo provides an enhanced capability to partner-nation
efforts.”
Operation Martillo, which translated,
means “Operation Hammer,” specifically targets illicit trafficking routes in
coastal waters along the Central American Isthmus -- the route for more than 90
percent of the cocaine destined for the United States.
The goal, explained Coast Guard Rear
Adm. Charles D. Michel, the task force commander, is to “take pressure off
these Central American countries.”
Particularly in the northern triangle
area of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, “thousands of their citizens are
being murdered,” Michel told American Forces Press Service. “Government
officials are being corrupted. Institutions are being rotted from the inside
out. Portions of their territory are no longer effectively under their
control.”
“That is instability,” the admiral said,
“and that is a national security threat, right in our backyard.”
Operation Martillo is showing progress
in working with partner nations to address that threat. Since Jan. 15, law
enforcement and Coast Guard members operating under its umbrella seized or
disrupted shipments that included more than 108 tons of cocaine, almost 8 tons
of marijuana and $3.5 million in laundered money, reported Jody Draves, the
task force’s public affairs officer.
Michel had high praise for the
interagency and international teamwork that has made Joint Interagency Task
Force South “the most effective and efficient counter-illicit trafficking,
detection, monitoring and law enforcement organization the planet has ever
known.”
The task force stood up 23 years ago as
Joint Task Force 4 as a new model of intergovernmental cooperation in dealing
with drug trafficking. The staff includes representatives of all five armed
services, including the National Guard and reserves, members of various federal
law enforcement entities, the intelligence community and their counterparts
from 13 partner nations.
Even as the Marines tentatively plan to
wrap up their support mission Oct. 31, Michel said, he’ll continue to press for
more assets – particularly ships and aircraft – to support the task force’s
mission.
“If we had more assets, we would be able
to make an even bigger dent into this effort,” he said. “You give me assets,
and I’ll show you results.”
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