Belize Coast Guard Deals Major Blow to Cartels

Belize sits right in the middle of a billion-dollar drug corridor and that makes our coastline a prime target for cartels moving cocaine north. But the Belize Coast Guard has been stepping up in a big way. Rear Admiral Bennett says their efforts have slashed drug shipments by an incredible seventy-five percent. From deterrence to high-stakes interceptions offshore, the Coast Guard is proving it’s a force to be reckoned with.

 

Rear Admiral Elton Bennett, Commander, Coast Guard

“Belize used to average somewhere around thirteen to fifteen shipment of drugs through our jurisdictional waters per year. The Coast Guard strategy as it developed over time was one that was intended to achieve deterrence. That deterrence required the development of forward operating bases. As I’d mentioned, we are now at thirteen different locations along the coast. We’ve been able to, over time, achieve that through our strategic plans of being a forward deployed Coast Guard. We have reduced significantly the amount of cocaine flow through our sea spaces. As I mentioned, thirteen to fifteen confirmed shipments that would account for about twenty to twenty-five tons of cocaine passing through our sea spaces every year. And that statistics is by the US Drug Enforcement Agency. However, the UNODC, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had statistics of up to eighty metric tons of cocaine passing through our jurisdictional waters. Because of the successful Coast Guard strategy, we have been able to reduce that to about two to three shipments per year. That’s a seventy-five percent reduction. And I think that’s, that perhaps is one of our strategic achievements over time that surely is a good measuring stick for that success.”