Editor's Foreword

II RM Mexicali,
Baja California
Región Aérea del Noroeste.
(RANO) North Western Air Region –
HQ Hermosillo, Sonora
© IISS
Región Aérea del Centro.
(RACE) Central Air Region –
HQ Santa Lucía, Mexico State
XI RM Torreón, Coahuila
III RM Mazatlán,
Sinaloa
MEXICO
V RM Guadalajara,
Jalisco
Map 1 Mexico: military and air regions
ment and training to fully address concerns ranging
from drug cartels to gangs and arms smugglers.
While attempts to considerably increase manpower
levels and acquire modern hardware have failed due
to lack of funding, the US has provided continued
assistance through programmes such as US Southern
Command’s Enduring Friendship, which has provided
a number of fast patrol boats and communication and
radar equipment to local navies. To date, four boats
each have been provided to Panama, the Dominican
Republic, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Honduras and
Nicaragua, while the programme for 2009 was due to
include two boats to Belize, two more for the Bahamas,
and scoping requirements for other nations. A larger
US$300 million programme is aimed at upgrading
air-interdiction and operational capability. Under this
Regional Aircraft Modernization Program (RAMP),
the US would share with partner nations the procurement
costs of helicopter and airlift assets and establish
long-term maintenance and training contracts.
Although four air chiefs signed a non-binding agreement
to move forward with RAMP, progress has so
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
IV RM Monterrey,
Nuevo León
IX RM Cumbres de
Llano Largo, Guerrero
Latin America and the Caribbean
Región Aérea del Noreste.
(RANE) North Eastern Air Region –
HQ Chihuahua, Chihuahua
I Distrito Federal
(Federal District)
XII RM Irapuato,
Guanajuato VI RM La Boticaria,
Veracruz
Mexico City
VIII RM Ixcotel,
Oaxaca
GUATEMALA
BELIZE
EL SALVADOR
55
Región Aérea del Sureste.
(RASE) South Eastern Air Region –
HQ Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas
VII RM
Tuxtla Gutiérrez,
Chiapas
Air divisions
State border
X RM Mérida,
Yucatán
far been mixed. Meanwhile, SOUTHCOM, which
re-established the Fourth Fleet during 2008, with an
HQ in Florida, retains inter-agency task forces at the
Comalapa and Curacao Forward Operating Locations
(FOLs). In September 2009 it returned the Manta FOL
to Ecuador after its ten-year lease expired.
Colombia continues to be a major recipient of US
assistance under Plan Colombia, which had provided
US$6 billion in counter-narcotics funding since 2000.
However, US$27m in funds have been frozen since
2007 on human-rights grounds and overall funding
has recently fallen as the US Congress reduced the
proportion of military spending. On 14 August 2009,
the US and Colombia reached a provisional agreement
ad referendum on a Defence Cooperation Agreement
(DCA) covering issues (such as those concerning the
presence of US military personnel) that have proved
contentious with neighbouring governments. The
agreement was signed on 30 October. Although the
DCA does not permit the establishment of US bases
in Colombia, it ‘ensures continued US access to
specific agreed Colombian facilities in order to under-
Latin America
and Caribbean