JANE’s Magazine was allowed unprecedented access to the Belize Coast Guard history, current goals, and future expansion role in Belize’s Ministry of National Security. Here is an excerpt:
The BCG was stood up in 2005 to provide Belize with a military force with law enforcement powers at sea. The new service began operations with seven impounded Eduardoño fast craft and 50 men drawn from the
disbanded BDF Maritime Wing. Captain Elton Bennett became commandant in November 2019, taking over from Rear Adm Borland. The BCG has since increased its strength tenfold to its current 515 personnel and expanded its fleet to more than 27 assorted fast craft, including Boston Whaler Justice 370 Interceptors.
SAFE Boats
Defender 33s donated by the US. “[The BCG mission] includes maritime safety, maritime security, marine
resources protection, maintaining sovereignty over Belize sea space, and naval defence of Belize,” Capt Bennett said. The force has its HQ on the outskirts of Belize City where storage and maintenance facilities for its boats are also found. Coming under the HQ are the CSOG, the fleet command also known as First Fleet, and the service and support group, which includes the training company handling recruit training, stores, and equipment supplies, as well as the maintenance component of the BCG.
The First Fleet includes an HQ and is broken down into northern, central, and southern sectors, each comprising three 30-man platoons. These are made up of boat teams and boarding teams, with each sector providing them with a pool of two Justice 370s and four other craft for operations. One platoon is usually on operation, with another training and the third on leave.
Each sector is responsible for the operation of several forward operating bases: six being coastguard stations, while seven are joint facilities where the BCG works alongside the BDF, the Belize Fisheries Department, customs officials, and NGOs. Directly under the First Fleet commandant is the Strike Team: an eight-man special operations unit specialising in maritime interdiction, counter-narcotics missions, and amphibious operations. Stood up in 2016, it is now slated for amalgamation into the CSOG to consolidate all BCG special operations assets within a single unit. A platoon-sized force, CSOG was formed in 2013 to respond to the degrading security situation in the north of the island of Ambergris Caye. “Different gangs would clash over
drugs washed ashore. People would be found in shallow graves. They would harass the locals with home invasions, steal their boats, and sell them in Mexico,” said Lieutenant B, CSOG’s commandant.
A selection and training course run by US Navy SEAL personnel saw eight BCG personnel graduate as Belizean SEALs, becoming the founding members of the unit. By 2014 CSOG was deploying in the field, gathering intelligence and carrying out offensive operations that led to a gradual drop in crime in northern Ambergris Caye. Since then more personnel have been trained and the unit has grown. Armed with M4A1 rifles, FN M249 Squad Automatic Weapons, M240 machine guns, and Remington Model 700 sniper rifles, CSOG operatives are as proficient in maritime operations as they are in land deployments such as long-range reconnaissance and close-quarter combat.
Like other naval forces in the region, the BCG mostly confronts crime at sea. “What occupies most of our time is really the transnational organised crime in the form of drug trafficking and weapon smuggling.
On average we will get call-outs perhaps three times a week,” Capt Bennett said. The BCG also works to prevent illegal fishing and other illicit activity affecting the Belizean maritime ecosystem, supporting the Belize
Fisheries Department and NGOs.
While the US has been the main source of equipment with donations of fast craft and spares, the BCG is now progressing its own procurement plans. Under the terms of the 2014 CABEI loan, the coastguard has been assigned USD10 million for acquiring two coastal patrol vessels. The requirements for these are a length of 85–110 ft (25.9–33.5 m), an endurance of three to five days, and a range of at least 500 n miles.
“What we looked at initially was the [Damen Stan Patrol] 3007 boat class and that’s what we approached the Mexican Navy with [in 2015],” Capt Bennett explained, adding that the idea was for the Mexican Navy’s shipyards (ASTIMAR) to build the ships since they have an ongoing industrial partnership with Damen.
However, because of legal issues precluding ASTIMAR from taking part in an international
bidding process, this option was scrapped.