US Army Deploys “Elite Trainers” To Help Colombia After Cocaine Production Triples

It’s a shame that we’re all likely going to be social distancing this Christmas, otherwise certain investment banks sound like they could be setting up for one hell of a holiday party.

In fact, a party that’s three times as better as its been in recent years. 

That’s because the U.S. is deploying “an elite group of military trainers” to Colombia to help the country’s counter-narcotics offensive deal with raging cocaine production in the country. Production of cocaine has “more than tripled” within the last few years, according to Bloomberg. 

The U.S. has assisted Colombian forces for years, but this marks the first time the U.S. has sent members of its Security Force Assistance Brigade. The troops will be in Colombia to provide training and won’t take part in combat. The deployment is also an attempt to put pressure on Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro. 

In another move many thought was to put pressure on Maduro, President Trump had said back in April that he was adding a naval presence in the Caribbean to help fight the drug cartels. 

Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America said: “The intended audience for this training deployment is probably in Caracas.”

Meanwhile, the increased amount of cocaine output coming out of Colombia has led the President to cut the country off from certain support, aid and loans. According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, potential cocaine production fell 1.4% last year, but only after reaching a record of 900 tons in 2017.  

U.S. Southern Command said: “In Colombia, the team will work with host units in areas designated by the Colombian government as ‘priority areas’ where they will focus on logistics, services and intelligence capabilities.”

The deployment is expected to last about four months and will be specific to drug producing regions.