(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. army is sending an elite group of military trainers to support counter-narcotics operations in Colombia after cocaine production more than tripled in recent years.
The U.S. has provided Colombian security forces with training and equipment for decades, but this is the first time it has sent members of its Security Force Assistance Brigade to Latin America, according to U.S. Southern Command. A company typically contains between 60 and 200 troops.
The troops are only in Colombia to provide training and won't take part in combat, Defense Minister Carlos Trujillo said. However, the deployment comes as the U.S. is trying to ratchet up pressure on the government of President Nicolas Maduro in neighboring Venezuela.
“The intended audience for this training deployment is probably in Caracas,” said Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America, which studies human rights in the region.
Trump said in April that he was sending more Navy vessels and Air Force planes in the Caribbean to ramp up pressure on drug cartels. The move was also seen as an attempt to increase pressure on Maduro, whose the government the U.S. is openly trying to topple.
Read More: As Cocaine Production Explodes, Colombia Tries to Appease Trump
The surge in cocaine output led to threats from U.S. President Donald Trump to cut Colombia off from aid and loans. Potential cocaine production fell 1.4% last year, after reaching a record of 900 tons in 2017, according to the annual report by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
“In Colombia, the team will work with host units in areas designated by the Colombian government as ‘priority areas' where they will focus on logistics, services and intelligence capabilities,” Southern Command said in the statement.
The mission will last for about four months and will be focused in four drug-producing regions, the head of Colombia's Armed Forces General Luis Fernando Navarro said in a video on Twitter.
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