Mexican federal forces captured a top leader of a deadly Ecuadorian drug trafficking gang and transferred him to Colombia, which quickly deported him to Ecuador. Ángel Esteban Aguilar Morales, an Ecuadorian national, is a boss of Los Lobos, or The Wolves, a transnational criminal organization that the United States State Department designated as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) in September 2025. Aguilar was wanted in Colombia and Ecuador in connection with the assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in 2023. Members of the Mexican Secretariat of the Navy (MARINA), Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), and the National Institute of…
The Watch
A United States Coast Guard cutter intercepted a self-propelled semi-submersible submarine as part of a Coast Guard operation in the eastern Pacific that netted $49.3 million in cocaine, which the ship offloaded in Florida in March 2026. The Coast Guard has stepped up operations in the region to support Operation Pacific Viper. Since August, the Coast Guard has seized nearly 91,000 kilograms of cocaine and apprehended 150 suspected drug smugglers, according to an agency news release. After the submarine was spotted by a maritime patrol plane on February 24, the Coast Guard cutter Forward deployed a pursuit boat and an…
Mexican authorities have apprehended a suspected drug cartel member who played a key role in the military siege that led to the death of drug lord Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” in February 2026, the Secretariat of National Defense (DEFENSA) said March 15. Special forces Soldiers from the Mexican Army and the National Guard arrested Jose N, nicknamed “El Pepe,” who drove Oseguera’s mistress to a luxury villa in the town of Tapalpa in Jalisco to meet with him, DEFENSA said in a news release. Oseguera, who led the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was killed in a raid by elite Mexican Soldiers…
The Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) apprehended 57 Haitian migrants in March 2026 on Little Inagua, the latest effort to deter illegal migration in the northeastern Caribbean region. Since 2021, the RBDF has interdicted 344 smuggling vessels and apprehended almost 12,000 migrants, according to the Nassau Guardian, a Bahamian newspaper. “We have issues with not only migrants entering The Bahamas but with migrants being consolidated and smuggled to our neighbors to the north,” Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe said while inspecting a newly acquired RBDF interceptor vessel a few days before the Little Inagua operation. “By this bold action,…
The Joint Task Force-Southern Border (JTF-SB) marked its first anniversary in March 2026 having secured the 3,145-kilometer border between Mexico and the United States with heightened surveillance and patrols organized by the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division. Its first year of operation achieved record low levels of illegal migration and reduced drug smuggling. “During this first year, Joint Task Force-Southern Border and partners have proven what a whole-of-government approach to our nation’s southern border can accomplish,” said Army Maj. Gen. David Gardner, commanding general of the JTF-SB and 101st Airborne Division, said in a Department of War news release. “Our…
The United States Army has announced testing of a new 30 mm Aviation Proximity Explosive (APEX) round designed to detonate near a target instead of on impact, creating a fragmentation pattern. The new round, primarily developed for firing from the AH-64 Apache helicopter, offers a new tool to counter unmanned aerial systems (UAS). The APEX round is being tested at the Yuma Test Center at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, the War Department said in a news release. It closely resembles the fielded M788 training round and M789 high-explosive dual-purpose round. Walter McCormick, a test officer at the proving…
The Mexican Navy secured 2 tons of cocaine floating in the eastern Pacific Ocean in March 2026, the latest in a string of seizures by the maritime defense force. Acting on intelligence, two patrol vessels located 80 waterproof packages bobbing in ocean currents about 322 kilometers southeast of Acapulco on March 9, according to Border Report, a U.S. news site focused on the Mexico-United States border region. Mexican Navy Sailors recovered the packages after support aircraft helped locate the floating drugs, according to the Secretariat of the Navy. No arrests were made. U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson praised the…
The United States Coast Guard cutter Munro and its crew returned to their home port in Alameda, California, on March 1, 2026, after a 119-day mission in which they seized about 10 metric tons of cocaine, the largest maritime drug seizure in 18 years, and chased down an oil tanker wanted for violating U.S. sanctions. The deployment spanned about 42,000 kilometers from the eastern Pacific Ocean to the north Atlantic, a Department of War (DOW) news release said. “This crew rose to every new challenge thrown at them with professionalism and persistence, and they achieved historic results,” Capt. Jim O’Mara, commanding officer…
The Canadian coastal defense vessel HMCS Yellowknife returned to its home port in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in March 2026 after a seven-week patrol in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean as part of Operation Caribbe, a multinational operation to disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking. The Yellowknife’s voyage represented Canada’s continuing commitment to stemming narcotic flows to North America funneled by transnational criminal organizations. The ship’s mission “demonstrates Canada’s sustained commitment to upholding international law and contributing to regional security in the Caribbean Sea. Maintaining a lawful and persistent presence at sea plays a critical role in deterring illicit trafficking…
Cold Response, a Norwegian-led NATO military exercise, took place in Norway and Finland in March 2026, bringing together 25,000 troops from more than a dozen nations. The cold-weather exercise gave participating forces the opportunity to operate in challenging conditions and demonstrate interoperability, logistical readiness and rapid deployment in the face of threats to NATO’s northern flank. For the first time, NATO’s Joint Force Command-Norfolk in Virginia commanded the exercise in which NATO allies collaborated on joint flight operations, mass casualty drills, live-fire events, situational lanes, multilateral land training and amphibious missions. Cold Response, which occurred between March 9 and March…