U.S. Southern Command Reaffirms Partnerships in Transnational Crime Fight

Michael Wimpish at the U.S. Southern Command offers the below piece:

MIAMI, Nov. 24, 2014 - The commander of U.S. Southern Command visited Belize, Guatemala and Honduras last week to reaffirm the U.S. military's commitment to helping Central American nations combat transnational criminal organizations.

At each stop in Belize, Guatemala and Honduras, Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly held high-level meetings with top leaders and security officials to review their security situations, address current collaborative efforts to counter transnational criminal organizations and discuss future U.S. military support to bolster security capabilities.

The governments of Belize, Guatemala and Honduras have committed to taking on transnational crime syndicates and disrupting illicit networks that move drugs, weapons, money and people through the region and into the United States. Southcom officials said the nations are critical allies in the international fight against transnational organized crime, which threatens regional and U.S. security.

Illicit Trafficking Destabilizes Central America

The destabilizing effects of transnational criminal organizations' illicit trafficking activities have produced security challenges in Central America, officials said. The organized crime groups use their immense resources and power to intimidate communities and corrupt local governments to enable the flow of their lucrative illicit networks, they explained. U.S. military support falls under the U.S. government's comprehensive assistance to the region known as the Central American Regional Security Initiative.

The support includes training and assistance to improve maritime, aerial and land security efforts, information sharing, and the provision of equipment and technology. The United States also provides operational and detection and monitoring support in the form of Operation Martillo, a joint U.S., European, and Western Hemisphere partner-nation effort to disrupt transnational criminal activity in the coastal waters of Central America.

The U.S. military also works with other nations, most notably Colombia, which has vast experience in successfully combating narcoterrorists and reinstituting governance and the rule of law. As Southcom's commander, Kelly oversees all U.S. military operations and engagements in Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Visit to Belize

During his Nov. 18 visit to Belize, Kelly met with Brig. Gen. David N. Jones, commander of the Belize Defense Force, and Rear Adm. John A. Borland, commander of the nation's coast guard, and discussed security challenges and future U.S. engagement. Kelly also met with U.S. Ambassador Carlos R. Moreno. Current Southcom engagements with Belize focus on improving its capabilities to counter transnational organized crime, participating in joint and multinational training exercises, and increasing capacity to conduct humanitarian and disaster relief missions. Kelly most recently visited Belize in September 2013.

Visit to Guatemala

Kelly arrived in Guatemala Nov. 19 and met with Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Manuel Augusto Lopez Ambrocio and Chief of Defense Carlos Eduardo Estrada Perez. The general also met with U.S. Ambassador Todd D. Robinson. Discussions focused on continued support and training for Guatemala's interagency task force, human rights efforts and future U.S. military engagement activities. Recent focus areas for Southcom's engagement with Guatemala include joint operations and planning, maritime security, information sharing, human rights, communications, logistics and peacekeeping. Kelly previously visited Guatemala in July.

Visit to Honduras Honduras was Kelly's last stop in Central America. He met with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, Chief of Defense Maj. Gen. Fredy Diaz, and U.S. Ambassador James Nealon. The leaders discussed continued U.S. support to Honduran counterdrug efforts, long-term security assistance and human rights issues. Ongoing U.S. military support to Honduras includes logistical support to Honduran counter trafficking operations, information sharing, training and multinational exercises and increasing capacity to conduct humanitarian and disaster relief missions.

This was Kelly's third visit to Honduras in 2014. He previously visited Honduras in February and June. The Honduran president also visited Southcom headquarters in August.

Southern Command's Marine General Warns Of Potential Crime-Terrorism Nexus In Latin America

Jim Garamone at the American Forces Press Service offers the below piece:

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2013 - A potential connection between crime syndicates and terrorists in Latin America would constitute a clear danger to the region, U.S. Southern Command's senior leader told reporters at the Pentagon today.

Marine Corps Gen. John F. Kelly said the increase in Iranian influence in Latin America is worrisome, and an example of the peril that the combination of criminal networks and states that sponsor terrorism, like Iran, could pose.

Kelly, who took over U.S. Southern Command in November, told reporters at a Pentagon news conference that in the past six years Iran has tried to increase its influence in Central and South America. The Iranian government, he said, has built embassies and cultural centers in the region.

"The concern is that ... they're looking ... for influence -- say for votes in the U.N. on sanctions," he said. "But also, and I've ... made mention to some of our friends in the region that these guys are very, very good at what they do, and very, very skilled at what they do, and that people should just be careful as to who they're dealing with."

The general stressed he is not accusing Iran of sponsoring terrorism in Latin America, but he noted that Iran is involved in terrorism in other areas of the world.

"We do know that some terrorist organizations are able to skim off fairly substantial sums of money from the drug profits," Kelly said. "And so there has to be kind of a network for that to happen."

The criminal networks in Latin America are very sophisticated and very well financed, he said.

Drugs are the basis for this wealth and the drug-related money coming out of the United States "is astronomical," Kelly said.

"I mean palettes of money," he said. "For a buck, anything can get on the [drug transport] network."

That network, Kelly said, transports tons of drugs into the United States and Europe and moves bales of money back out.

"The point of it all is the network is a very dangerous thing to have working as effectively as it does, because anything can get on it," he said.

Kelly said his command is working to build military-to-military contacts throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

"The good news about Latin America and my part of the world is that there are no wars," he said.

And most Latin American countries, including Brazil -- the world's fifth-largest economy -- want the United States as a partner, Kelly said.

The countries of the region don't ask for much, the general said.

"When I go down and visit, they're not asking for an awful [lot] -- they're not asking for money," Kelly said. "They're willing to pay their own way."

What the Latin American countries need is expertise, the general said. For example, Peru is asking for help in getting its separate military services to work together better. Colombia needs help in countering improvised explosive devices that the terror group FARC and criminal syndicates use to protect coca fields and factories. Other nations need medical expertise.

Turning to another topic, Kelly noted that sequestration will hit his command hard. He said there will be fewer vessels to interdict cocaine shipments, and fewer troops to operate with partner militaries.