Latin America Week in Review - July 18, 2014 Share This /

This week the President of Honduras asked for a ‘Plan Colombia’ for his country, the Pentagon trained more Mexican military members and U.S. Southern Command completed its six-week training mission in Belize. Read these stories and other highlights below.  

• In order to increase security measures after the debut of its Frontera Sur border program with Guatemala, the Mexican government announced that it would prohibit migrants from riding on top of the northbound freight train called “La Bestia.” The Frontera Sur program is a five-part security initiative being taken by Mexico and Guatemala that includes creating temporary work permits for migrants, enhancing infrastructure at official entry points, and increasing coordination mechanism among countries in the region among other measures.
• Few concrete details have been released on how exactly the Mexican government plans on tightening security at the Mexico/Guatemala border, raising concerns as migrants continue to cross through the region, both by foot and by train. According to the Associated Press, little visible progress has been made at the border.
•  On Tuesday, Mexican Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong announced during a press conference that the government would be appointing Humberto Mayans as the country’s newest czar to address migration from Central America.
• Mexico’s cartels are reportedly producing custom made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, to move drugs across the border, according to InSight Crime. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has registered around 150 narco drone crossings at the U.S./Mexico border since 2012.  
• The U.S. has increased its training operations with Mexico’s armed forces. According to USA Today the Pentagon spent over $15 million on trainings in the country last year, up from $3 million in 2009.
• The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental affairs held a hearing Wednesday on the root causes behind the surge in migrants apprehended at the border. During the hearing, Wilson Center Director Eric Olson cited three main causes behind the surge: widespread violence since the 1980s from Cold War conflict, deportation of gang members to the region during the 1990s and early 2000s, and weak rule of law institutions. Click here to view the hearing.
• Members of Congress met with Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández on Sunday to discuss child migration to the United States. President Hernández asked the lawmakers to devise a security assistance program to Honduras similar to either Plan Colombia or the Mérida Initiative to help quell drug related violence. On Monday, Hernández cited U.S. drug consumption and drug policy as the major driving force behind the recent influx in child migrants fleeing violence in Honduras during an interview with Excelsior.
• On Monday, Germany imposed an export ban on arms maker SIG Sauer after the U.S. Department of Defense sold Colombia 65,000 of its pistols. Under German law, it is illegal to sell arms to any country that has an ongoing armed conflict underway. German officials stated they gave the required export license for the guns after receiving written assurance from the U.S. the they would not leave the country.
• U.S. Southern Command’s Coastal River Squadron stationed in Belize completed its six-week training mission with Belize Small Boat Unit (SBU) service members on extraction missions and interdictions last week. The mission was part of Southern Partnership Station 2014, a program launched by SOUTHCOM that focuses on expert information exchanges within 31 of its partner countries in the Americas.  
• The future amphibious assault ship USS America was commissioned last week, according to an official SOUTHCOM announcement. The ship will tour throughout the Americas, including visits to Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Peru as well as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. During its tour, the ship will “engage in cooperative maritime security operations with partner nations in order to…build enduring partnerships that foster regional security.”
• Colombia is gearing up for Fuerzas Comando 2014, which is set to start on July 23rd. The annual event, which involves participants from countries such as Brazil, Mexico, and the United States, is a “military skills competition between military and police Special Operations teams in the Western Hemisphere.”
• The U.S. Senate confirmed James E. Nealon as the new ambassador to Honduras on Tuesday.  Nealon was formerly a Civilian Deputy to Commander and Foreign Policy Advisor at U.S. Southern Command.