Today at the Belize Coast Guard Headquarters, a ceremony was held to highlight the gifting of major equipment from the United States Embassy to the Belize Coast Guard. This equipment came in the form of two Boston Whaler Outrage Justice Series boats, two SAFE Defender Class boats, two F-550 Ford trucks, and a 40-foot container filled with spare parts.
Together, this entire package is worth eight million Belize dollars, and the equipment was provided by the United States Southern Command Counter Drug Program, and the Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) Program.
Members of the security forces, especially from the Belize Coast Guard, were addressed by United States Ambassador, His Excellency, Vinai Thummalapally, and the Minister of Defence, Hon. Carlos Perdomo.
Ambassador Thummalapally said that the donation represents an effort by the United States Southern Command and other partner countries which have been working in collaboration for the past five to six years, to improve maritime governance and policing.
Thummalapally spoke on the technical aspects that the boats will bring to the abilities of the Belize Coast Guard. Each Boat, named CG14, CG15, CG16, and CG17, comes outfitted with three 4-stroke Mercury outboard engines, which allows members of the Coast Guard to maintain high-speed vector chases on the open seas, state-of-the-art over-the-horizon tracking systems, global positioning system (GPS) navigation equipment, advanced radar, a multiple-band radio, and shock absorbing seats.
Minister Perdomo then took the podium and said that the vessels would be deployed around the San Pedro, Ambergris Caye area, which encompasses the Corozal Bay, Sarteneja, Bacalar Chico, the Hol Chan Marine Reserve and Caye Caulker.
According to Perdomo, their information suggests that these are the areas of operation for illicit trade outfits moving human cargo and drug cargo.
After the ceremony, Amandala was taken a ride in one of the SAFE Defender Class boats for a first-hand experience of its capabilities.
While on-board, Lt. Gregory Soberanis, Flotilla Commander for the Belize Coast Guard, explained that the vessel can travel at speed in excess of forty-five to fifty-five nautical miles per hour, and it can travel four hundred and fifty nautical miles on one full tank of fuel.
A demonstration of the maneuverability was also made, where Belize Coast Guard showed us that the vessels can make extremely sharp, high-speed turns that would normally be dangerous to any other vessel not in a similar class.
Lt. Soberanis said that these vessels are not only technologically well-equipped and fast, but they also provide a level of comfort for the crew, and it allows for a professional approach to search-and-rescue missions, and the engaging of suspect vessels.
The Belize Coast Guard is very grateful to the United States Embassy for arranging this donation, and with it, they believe that they can better combat the outfits of the illicit trade, which have upgraded their own capabilities over the years to remain ahead of our law enforcement agencies.