By Jared Samuelson
Mexican naval analyst Christian Ehrlich (@CJEhrlichM) joins Jared (@jwsc03) to discuss Mexican maritime security challenges, the role of the Mexican Marine Corps, piracy in the Gulf of Mexico, the Mexican shipbuilding industry, and more!
Download Sea Control 172 – Mexican Maritime Challenges with Christian Ehrlich
Links
2. “Pirates Ignore Quarantine, Attack Four Ships in One Week”, Mexico News Daily, April 16, 2020
3. Mexican Strategic Landscape, The Institute of Strategy and Development Research, March 2020
4. Pirates Raid Ships in the Gulf of Mexico, The Yucatan Times, April 17, 2020
Jared Samuelson is the Senior Producer of the Sea Control Podcast. Contact him at seacontrol@cimsec.org.
Respectfully, Mr. Ehrlich missed some important details regarding SEMAR’s amphibious capability. SEMAR’s two ex-NEWPORT class LSTs, USUMACINTA and PAPALOAPAN routinely participate in major exercises like RIMPAC, where they put in practice their amphibious disembarkation capability. These ships also routinely support HA/DR operations from the sea, having participated in major international operations such as tsunami relief in Indonesia in 2004, and Haiti in 2010. SEMAR’s amphibious capability is practiced in exercises like DAWN BLITZ and BOLD ALLIGATOR, we well as SOUTHCOM exercise TRADEWINDS. I believe Mr. Ehrlich also did not want to tackle the prickly issue of politics, and how the Lopez Obrador administration has not only slashed SEMAR’s budget, the administration has also canceled the planned build of additional SIGMA-class corvettes. The administration has also cut back on SEMAR’s international engagements. Lastly, there was no mention of the nearly $500 million in US-provided assistance to SEMAR under the Merida Initiative, where four of the CN-235s and three UH-60M helicopters derived from, among other efforts aimed at boosting interoperability with the US maritime services.