Belize Coast Guard celebrates its eight anniversary

Today the Belize Coast Guard celebrated its eighth anniversary in grand style in San Pedro, inaugurating its forward operating base and also passing out thirty new recruits. The facility, which will be known as the Northern Forward Operating Base, features a fully equipped command center, accommodations for sixteen personnel, a fuelling station and a docking berth for two large vessels. Coast Guard personnel permanently stationed in San Pedro can now be deployed instantly on operations from the Belize-Mexico border to the northern limits of Belize’s territorial seas. The structure is built to withstand a Category Five hurricane and was funded by the US Southern Command to the tune of one point five million US dollars. A fitting feature of today’s celebration was the passing out of thirty new Coast Guard recruits. These successful members of a twelve week intensive recruiting session have brought the numbers of the Coast Guard to one hundred and eighty strong. Among the invited guests were the Governor General of Belize Sir Colville Young, who inspected the guard of honor and US Deputy Chief of Mission in Belize, Margaret Hawthorne.