Timeframe: 2026 to 2030
Budget: EUR 6.2 million / CAD 10 million
Donor: Global Affairs Canada
The situation
Situated at the crossroads of major global trade and trafficking routes linking South America, North America, Africa and Europe, the Caribbean is one of the world's busiest maritime and air transit hubs, leaving it highly vulnerable to transnational organized crime. The region's many islands and coastal states, with numerous ports and extensive coastlines, complicate the monitoring of goods and people.
Criminal networks exploit jurisdictional asymmetries, porous borders and limited maritime domain awareness to traffic narcotics, firearms, persons, stolen motor vehicles and other illicit commodities. This environment has driven homicides to levels three times the global average, while enabling organized crime groups to expand their influence and embed themselves in the region’s illicit economy.
Project aims
The Caribbean Task Force project is designed to move beyond episodic operations by delivering continuous operational pressure against criminal networks over a four-year period.
The initiative will aim to strengthen regional security, stability and diplomacy through two interconnected pillars:
I. Establishment of a sustained multinational operational framework to identify, disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal networks and illicit trafficking routes
II. Delivery of intelligence-led enforcement operations and investigative support to strengthen regional and global responses to organized crime
Expected outcomes include:
- The identification and apprehension of High-Value Targets (HVTs) and disruption of organized criminal groups;
- Significant seizures of narcotics, firearms, criminal proceeds, counterfeit documents, stolen vehicles, other illicit goods, and rescued victims of human trafficking;
- Enhanced intelligence collection and sharing;
- Increased use of INTERPOL capabilities and international cooperation mechanisms.
Project activities
Hosted at CARICOM IMPACS Joint Regional Communications Centre in Saint Michael, Barbados — the Caribbean Task Force will be intelligence-driven and enforcement-focused. Key activities include:
- Establishment of a Caribbean Corridor Operational Task Force and execution of operations;
- Development of comprehensive intelligence mapping of criminal activities in the region;
- Enhancement of transnational cooperation through investigation follow up, asset tracing, and judicial processes;
- Communication of operational analysis, criminal activities and outcome reports;
- Provision of direct access to INTERPOL databases and communication channels to frontline law enforcement agencies.
The Task Force will employ a rotating “hotspot” model, enabling flexible deployments across poly-crime domains — principally maritime, but also air and land. The initiative will be organized into four sub-regions, each representing an operational theatre, reflecting shared maritime, air, and land challenges and collectively forming the foundation of the region’s unified enforcement response.
- Hispaniola Corridor: Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Turks & Caicos Islands, The Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Florida, and Cayman Islands
- Venezuela–Dutch Antilles Corridor: Venezuela, Colombia, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao
- South-East Corridor: Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago
- Eastern Caribbean Antilles Corridor: French Overseas Territories (Martinique, Guadeloupe), St. Lucia, Dominica, Barbados, Dutch Overseas Territories (Sint Maarten, Saba, and Sint Eustatius), UK Overseas Territories (Anguilla, Montserrat, British Virgin Islands), and US Overseas Territories (US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico)