President
Donald Trump announced Wednesday he was directing the
Pentagon to join drug interdiction efforts in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean, saying traffickers were trying to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump together with Pentagon leaders said they were doubling the number of ships and aircraft committed to tracking and seizing drugs coming up to the
United States from South and Central America.
"Today the United States is announcing enhanced counter-narcotics operations in the Western hemisphere to protect the
American people from the deadly scourge of illegal narcotics," Trump said in a
White House press conference.