By Brett Rowland
The Center Square

Drug Enforcement Administration officials plan to work with their counterparts in Mexico to target the gatekeepers of the smuggling corridors between the two nations.

The effort is called Project Portero. It is aimed at dismantling cartel operatives who control the smuggling routes along the Southwest Border.

“Gatekeepers are essential to cartel operations, directing the flow of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine into the United States while ensuring the movement of firearms and bulk cash back into Mexico,” the agency noted. “By specifically targeting them, DEA and its partners are striking at the heart of cartel command-and-control.”

The project will include a multi-week training and collaboration program at an intelligence center on the Southwest Border. The program brings together Mexican investigators with U.S. law enforcement, prosecutors, defense officials, and members of the intelligence community.

They plan to identify joint targets, develop coordinated enforcement strategies, and strengthen the exchange of intelligence, the DEA said. The Homeland Security Task Force also will participate.

“DEA is taking decisive action to confront the cartels that are killing Americans with fentanyl and other poisons,” DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said. “Project Portero and this new training program show how we will fight – by planning and operating side by side with our Mexican partners, and by bringing the full strength of the U.S. government to bear. This is a bold first step in a new era of cross-border enforcement, and we will pursue it relentlessly until these violent organizations are dismantled.”