{"id":55327,"date":"2020-05-29T08:27:13","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T13:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=55327"},"modified":"2020-05-29T08:27:13","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T13:27:13","slug":"55327","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=55327","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/colombiareports.com\/us-special-forces-to-help-combat-drug-trafficking-in-colombias-war-torn-areas\/\">US special forces to help combat drug trafficking in Colombia\u2019s war-torn areas<\/a><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/embed?mid=1djWNWdJWvMXNFFMa7Kn5kKE7MH9isurs\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The United States embassy said Wednesday that American special forces will assist Colombia\u2019s security forces in counter-narcotics operations in war-torn areas prioritized in the peace process.<\/p>\n<p>The so-called Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB) will carry out joint missions in what President Ivan Duque calls \u201cFuture Zones,\u201d regions historically abandoned by the state and controlled by the FARC until their demobilization in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Four of these five areas are also major coca growing regions where dissident FARC factions and other illegal armed groups maintain control over the drug trade with increased help of Mexican drug cartel emissaries.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The SFAB mission in Colombia is an opportunity to show our mutual commitment against\u00a0<a class=\"aalmanual\" title=\"Colombia drug trafficking\" href=\"https:\/\/colombiareports.com\/colombia-drug-trafficking\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">drug trafficking<\/a>\u00a0and support for regional peace, respect for sovereignty and the lasting promise to defend shared ideals and values.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h5>US Southern Command chief Admiral Craig Faller<\/h5>\n<p>The SFAB mission of \u201cseveral months\u201d will begin in June as part of a the \u201cEnhanced Counter Narcotics Operations\u201d carried out throughout the hemisphere \u201cto reduce the flow of illicit drugs, degrade transnational criminal organizations, and increase interoperability with our partner nations and interagency partners,\u201d the US Southern Command said in April.<\/p>\n<p>US President Donald Trump announced these operations early last month as part of what Defense Secretary Mark Esper called a \u201cwhole-of-government approach to combating the flow of illicit drugs into the United States and protecting the American people from their scourge.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The production and export of cocaine in Colombia \u201ckills our farmers, destroys forests, wildlife and contaminates the rivers and seas,\u201d the US embassy quoted Defense Minister\u00a0<a class=\"aalmanual\" title=\"Carlos Holmes Trujillo\" href=\"https:\/\/colombiareports.com\/carlos-holmes-trujillo\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carlos Holmes Trujillo<\/a>\u00a0as saying.<\/p>\n<p>The SFAB\u2019s of more than 500 soldiers did not exist until 2018 and also meant to bolster US allies dubbed \u201cweak states\u201d by American military scholars.<\/p>\n<p>Colombia, whose state has historically been considered weak, has been struggling to lower cocaine production, partially because its National Army has been bogged down by corruption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US special forces to help combat drug trafficking in Colombia\u2019s war-torn areas The United States embassy said Wednesday that American special forces will assist Colombia\u2019s security forces in counter-narcotics operations in war-torn areas prioritized in the peace process. The so-called Security Force Assistance Brigade (SFAB) will carry out joint missions in what President Ivan Duque &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=55327\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-military"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55327"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55328,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55327\/revisions\/55328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}