As Pentagon Lauds Drug-Boat Strikes, USCG Marks Drug-Bust Milestone
After two more large-scale busts at sea, the U.S. Coast Guard has raised the tally of cocaine seized under its new enhanced patrol campaign to 200,000 pounds - equivalent to 75 million lethal doses. The milestone was announced at about the same time as the latest strike in the Pentagon's parallel, lethal-force campaign against the same drug-boat traffic.
In August, the Coast Guard doubled down on its counternarcotics operation in the Eastern Pacific with a new focused enforcement effort, dubbed Operation Pacific Viper. The region is home to a thriving cocaine trade, carried by go-fast boats and semisubmersibles on short-haul routes from South America to Central America. From origin ports in Colombia and Ecuador, these boats take to the high seas and deliver their valuable cargoes to Honduras, Guatemala and other small Central American nations, sometimes using routes far offshore. From there, the drugs are smuggled overland - either northward to the U.S. land border with Mexico, or to regional seaports for covert shipment to Europe (the destination for the majority of the total volume).
Cocaine is so abundant on these smuggling routes that the Coast Guard's seizures account for 80 percent of all U.S.-bound drugs - far more than any other agency is able to capture.
"Each Coast Guard drug seizure far from our borders prevents deadly drugs from reaching our communities and disrupts the profit that fuels narco-terrorists," said Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday in a statement. "The success of Operation Pacific Viper proves that we own the sea, and the proficiency, vigilance, and heart of our crews is our greatest strength."
The latest busts included 13,000 pounds of cocaine captured by USCGC Seneca (a medium-endurance cutter built in 1982) and another 13,000 pounds by USCGC Robert Ward (a 350-ton Sentinel-class patrol boat). These large seizures add on to previous successes: the service set a new record in mid-November when USCGC Stone offloaded nearly 50,000 pounds in one delivery at Port Everglades, entirely the product of her crew's efforts.
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The Coast Guard's law-enforcement approach contrasts with the Pentagon's controversial program to destroy drug boats and their crews by aerial attack, without boardings or arrests; the latest strike occurred Thursday, killing two suspected smugglers. In a statement Thursday, the Pentagon said that some of the trafficking cartels in the region have decided to indefinitely suspend small-boat smuggling operations because of the lethal strikes, describing the program as "deterrence through strength."
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