The whole Canadian mission also went beyond vessels patrolling the ocean: Op CARIBBE called four CP-140 Aurora surveillance aircraft into service along with CH-124 Sea King helicopters that combined to fly 150 hours in surveillance and detection missions.
Although the CAF says this mission is part of its broader “commitment to engagement in the Americas” and celebrates its cocaine seizures, its other operations in the Americas have remained in the shadows.
In its official engagement guide on the Americas, the CAF says it works in Belize and Guatemala to conduct capacity building efforts to help those countries defend against narco-traffickers.
Guatemala in particular, is a major and historical location for cocaine in transit to the US. But when quizzed by the CBC in 2013 on what the specific Canadian military contribution was in Guatemala, the CAF remained tight lipped.
In a Human Rights Watch report for 2015, Guatemala is rebuked for continuing to use the military to intervene in public safety operations even though the army has a “long history of human rights abuse.”
At the same time, Canadian Special Forces soldiers helped train Jamaican troops in anti-narco efforts, while other Canadian military assets have been deployed to Chile, Brazil and Colombia in recent years for training missions in what has been seen as a marked increase in the support of the US War On Drugs over the last decade.
Article Appeared @https://news.vice.com/article/canadas-war-on-drugs-in-the-caribbean-had-a-very-good-year