El Salvador and US Extend Forward Operating Location Agreement

Charge d'Affaires Robert Blau and Salvadoran Foreign Affairs Minister Marisol Argueta de Barillas.

Charge d’Affaires  Robert I. Blau and Salvadoran Foreign Affairs Minister Marisol Argueta de Barillas exchanged diplomatic notes to extend for five additional years an agreement allowing U.S. aircraft to operate out of the Salvadoran Air Force base  at Comalapa, known as the Forward Operating Location or FOL.

The original agreement that created the FOL in Comalapa was signed in March 2000. The FOLs play a crucial role that allows interdiction aircraft to be forward deployed closer to drug routes in the region. They also underscore the multilateral approach to combating the drug problem.
 
During 2008 alone, more than 80 metric tons of drugs, with a street value of more than $17 billion dollars, were seized or stopped in transit throughout the region.  More than 500 missions were flown from the FOL in Comalapa.