By Wilder Alejandro Sánchez
Written by Wilder Alejandro Sanchez, The Southern Tide addresses maritime safety points all through Latin America and the Caribbean. It discusses the challenges regional navies face together with restricted protection budgets, inter-state tensions, and transnational crimes. It additionally examines how these challenges affect present and future protection methods, platform acquisitions, and relations with international powers.
In late March, the U.S. Navy cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60) and the Guyanese patrol vessel Shahoud carried out joint workout routines in Guyana’s unique financial zone and worldwide waters. Washington has many allies and companions throughout the Higher Caribbean, significantly among the many area’s English-speaking nations. Regardless of having restricted budgets and property, the protection forces of the English-speaking Caribbean are coaching and growing their capabilities to hold out missions, which aligns with US diplomatic and navy targets.
Ongoing Dialogue
The excellent news is that high-level interactions between the U.S. navy and Caribbean militaries proceed. U.S. Navy Admiral Alvin Holsey, the Commander of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), traveled to Trinidad and Tobago final December to take part within the Caribbean Nations Safety Convention (CANSEC) 2024.
In early January, U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Nathan Moore, Commander of the Atlantic Space, visited Barbados and met with Barbados Defence Drive Chief of Workers Brigadier Carlos Lovell. The 2 senior officers mentioned additional cooperation on widespread threats, together with transnational organized crime and unlawful, unregulated, and unreported (IUU) fishing. Topic Matter Specialists from the U.S. navy traveled to Jamaica in March and visited the Jamaica Defence Drive’s Joint Data and Operations Centre.
Extra lately, Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Guyana, Jamaica, and Suriname in late March. The tour was an opportunity to handle Caribbean protection and safety points: throughout his cease within the Jamaican capital, Rubio additionally met with Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Stuart Younger and mentioned the bilateral safety partnership and regional safety points.
Latest Acquisitions by Caribbean Forces
Bettering Maritime Area Consciousness (MDA) stays a precedence for Caribbean governments and their protection forces. Therefore, regional naval forces purchase new floor and aerial property for these missions. The Royal Bahamas Defence Drive (RBDF) has led the way in which over the previous decade through the Sandy Backside Undertaking, which enabled the acquisition of a fleet of various Damen-made floor vessels, together with patrol vessels. The RBDF has additionally acquired a fleet of drones. Equally, the Jamaica Defence Drive (JDF) has acquired 4 offshore patrol vessels, additionally manufactured by Damen, for the JDF Coast Guard; the HMJS Norman Manley arrived in late 2023.
Extra lately, the Antigua & Barbuda Defence Drive (ABDF) Coast Guard introduced in late February the commissioning of a brand new speedboat for the fleet, hull quantity CG11-1 Swordfish. This acquisition demonstrates Saint John’s dedication to strengthening the ABDF and enhancing MDA. Suriname’s Navy is now working the patrol vessel RSS Barracuda (P501), acquired by way of a lease-to-buy settlement with Damen Shipyard Group. The ship can have “a vital function within the safety of the maritime space of the nation,” defined the Ministry of Protection. (Suriname’s official language is Dutch, not English, however I’ll point out it nonetheless).
Guyana deserves particular consideration. In late 2024, Guyana lastly acquired the 115-foot Defiant patrol vessel GDFS Berbice, produced by the U.S. shipyard Metallic Shark. Berbice is the brand new flagship of the Guyana Defence Drive (GDF) Coast Guard and can assist maritime operations. On condition that Guyana has a border dispute with neighboring Venezuela over Guyana’s Essequibo area and oil-rich waters, buying new platforms for the GDF is a precedence. In actual fact, in early March, the Venezuelan patrol vessel ABV Guaiqueiri PO-11 entered Guyana’s unique financial zone and harassed oil property working there. In a press release, the Guyanese authorities defined that, “The Venezuelan naval vessel communicated threateningly through radio communication that FPSO PROSPERITY was working in Venezuela’s unique financial zone earlier than persevering with in a Southwestern path in the direction of different FPSOs, to which it delivered the identical message.” The Venezuelan Ministry of Protection justified the operation, arguing it happened in contested waters.
The U.S. navy and coast guard presence within the Caribbean
The U.S. navy, significantly SOUTHCOM, its maritime part U.S. Fourth Fleet, and even U.S. Northern Command (with The Bahamas inside its space of accountability) proceed to have interaction Washington’s English-speaking allies all through the Caribbean. Engagement is just not restricted to conferences but in addition bilateral and multinational navy coaching. For instance, SOUTHCOM sponsors the annual train Tradewinds, particularly designed for the Caribbean – Trinidad and Tobago hosted Tradewinds 2024. Bilateral coaching happens when U.S. warships go to the Caribbean. Passing workout routines (PASSEX) are pretty widespread, working example, on the time of this writing, in late March, the Normandy and the Shahoud carried out joint workout routines, together with PASSEX, “in worldwide waters and the Guyana Unique Financial Zone to train communications and interoperability, and apply joint maneuvers,” in accordance with the U.S. embassy in Guyana.
SOUTHCOM stays centered on Humanitarian Help/Catastrophe Aid (HADR) missions throughout the Caribbean – and the remainder of Latin America. The U.S. hospital ship Consolation is commonly deployed. Nonetheless, in recent times, the Spearhead-class expeditionary quick transport vessel USNS Burlington (T-EPF 10) has additionally traveled all through the Caribbean to help populations in want. HA/DR operations are already going down this 12 months.
The Lesser Antilles Medical Help Staff (LAMAT) 2025, commenced on 24 February, throughout which U.S. navy medical personnel will go to a number of Caribbean nations. Whereas LAMAT 2025 doesn’t contain vessels, the humanitarian train will present invaluable medical companies to the inhabitants of Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Guyana. “All concerned agree LAMAT’25 is a win-win state of affairs, benefiting each U.S. navy personnel and accomplice nations. The mission enhances medical readiness and strengthens partnerships whereas enhancing healthcare infrastructure in underserved areas,” defined Air Forces Southern, the aerial part of SOUTHCOM.
The U.S. Navy deployed a number of property over the previous years all through the Caribbean as regional nations had been hit by lethal and harmful pure disasters, comparable to hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes. (In earlier commentaries for CIMSEC, this writer advised that SOUTHCOM deserves a completely assigned hospital ship.)
As for safety operations, U.S. Navy warships, significantly destroyers and littoral fight ships (LCSs), and U.S. Coast Guard cutters frequently patrol the Caribbean Sea to interdict illicit maritime actions, significantly drug trafficking through vessels and the notorious narco-submarines. Latest platforms deployed to the Command’s space of accountability embody the LCS St. Louis and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116). The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Valiant unloaded roughly 12,470 kilos (5,656 kilograms) of cocaine in early March at Coast Guard Base Miami Seaside, value an estimated $141.4 million. The contraband was seized thanks to 6 interdictions within the Caribbean Sea.
Lastly, the Caribbean Sea is right for testing rising applied sciences. On the time of writing, Operation Southern Spear is underway because the U.S. Navy is testing Uncrewed Floor Vessels (USVs). The target is to check new methods to develop the longer term U.S. Navy’s hybrid fleet as a part of the service’s Undertaking 33.
Dialogue and Evaluation
Some Higher Caribbean nations have governments that conflict with U.S. diplomatic goals, specifically Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Nonetheless, the area has many historic and reliable U.S. allies and companions. In a current interview, Belize Defence Drive commander Brigadier Common Azariel Loria mentioned coaching workout routines with SOUTHCOM, together with Particular Operations Command South (SOCSOUTH) and the Louisiana Nationwide Guard through the State Partnership Program. “We’re desirous to proceed joint coaching workout routines centered on countering transnational threats, with the purpose of incorporating tactical operations, humanitarian help missions, and specialised coaching on counterterrorism and catastrophe response,” he stated. BG Loria added that the BDF “seems ahead to extra innovated methods to take our partnership to a different degree to enhance coordination between our land, air, and maritime items.” In different phrases, the commanding officers of the English-speaking Caribbean protection forces see the U.S. armed forces (together with the Coast Guard) as essential allies and companions for coaching and working collectively to fight crimes in air, land, and sea. This relationship should not be misplaced.
The difficulty of apparatus availability and serviceability is an apparent drawback throughout the area. The Caribbean Sea is a big physique of water, and Caribbean nations will not be one single unified island nation. Relying on the nation, every nation can embody numerous islands, islets, cays and atolls, and an unlimited maritime territory. Therefore, regional naval forces require a fleet of floor vessels and maritime patrol plane to correctly monitor and command their maritime territory. Definitely, extra vessels demand further bills like port infrastructure, gasoline, ammo, and crew, amongst different monetary concerns, in the meantime protection budgets throughout the Caribbean stay restricted, hamstringing fleets throughout the Caribbean. Nonetheless, the examples talked about on this analysis- the Bahamas and Jamaica buying a number of ships and the extra modest acquisitions of Guyana and Antigua & Barbuda- exhibit civilian authorities’ dedication to assign extra budgets for maritime procurement packages.
Sadly, the threats of illicit actions and challenges throughout the Caribbean will stay ever-present. The ocean is the popular hall for drug trafficking, whereas IUU fishing and human and weapons smuggling are additionally fixed challenges and threats. An ongoing concern is the disaster in Haiti, which is forcing Haitians emigrate, usually through vessels. Furthermore, piracy is making a comeback. Final 12 months, there have been stories that two Haitian prison entities, 5 Seconds and Taliban gangs (no relation to the Afghan Taliban), captured the freighter Magalie at Port-au-Prince’s Varreux terminal district, stealing one-sixth of the cargo of rice and took the crewmembers hostage. The scenario was resolved when the police stormed the ship. Although the incident occurred whereas the ship was docked, the scenario in Haiti has develop into so dire that it now impacts maritime delivery.
For the Caribbean, cooperation is the proper reply. Given the risk surroundings within the Caribbean Sea and restricted floor and aerial property to patrol this huge physique of water, strengthening military-to-military relations advances U.S. and Caribbean pursuits. A scarcity of adequate patrol vessels operated by Caribbean coast guards doesn’t imply a scarcity of willingness to fight maritime crimes. The U.S. authorities ought to present extra instruments, together with an even bigger price range for SOUTHCOM. Armed with an even bigger price range, SOUTHCOM can develop its low-cost/ high-impact engagements, benefiting all companions throughout the Caribbean area.
Wilder Alejandro Sánchez is an analyst who focuses on worldwide protection, safety, and geopolitical points throughout the Western Hemisphere, Central Asia, and Japanese Europe. He’s the President of Second Flooring Methods, a consulting agency in Washington, DC, and a non-resident Senior Affiliate on the Americas Program, Heart for Strategic and Worldwide Research. Comply with him on X/Twitter: @W_Alex_Sanchez.
Featured Picture: CARIBBEAN SEA (Mar. 27, 2025) – The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60) conducts a passing train with Guyana Defence Drive Defiant-class patrol ship GDSF Shahoud within the Caribbean Sea. (U.S. Navy photograph by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Dylan M. Kinee/Launched)
