stxhunter,

YEP. At that time/place I was "seconded to" the OAS from HQ, USASOUTHCOM & stationed in South America.
(Was that not clear??)

Our multi-national team was ordered to do whatever was possible to STOP kidnapping of the local Indios as manual labor & as "mules" for the narcotrafficantes, women/children for "slave labor"/sex "partners"/pornography/the "sex trade" & even babies/toddlers for "out of country", illegal adoptions.
AND
Where/When possible to destroy, damage or at least "cause trouble for" the narcotics gangs that worked both sides of the international borders.
(Frankly, we were much more successful in damaging the wholesale narcotics trade than we ever were at stopping kidnapping & sex crimes, if only because our Mike-force attacked/destroyed the fixed locations where illegal drugs were "processed", prepared for transport and/or stored. - Obviously "factories", vehicle loading/parking lots, airfields & warehouses are much more difficult to move about than members of criminal gangs are.)

A COL of the local National Police HQ had the idea of hiring members of families, who had had their women/children raped and/or murdered. = That "contract action force" was first called: "Los hombres de la noche". (Gentlemen of the Night) and/or more commonly: "The Mike-force" or "M-force".
The members of the local Mike-force always called themselves, unofficially/more correctly: "Buscadores de venganza" (Seekers of revenge.)

YES, The Seekers of Revenge got paid (a little over 3.00 US dollars per day each) but most of them would have worked for the team for free. = These were ANGRY & DANGEROUS MEN.

We "team staffers" were quartered with the local Native people with whom we served, ate what they ate & sent 3-man teams out to each hamlet/village to teach marksmanship, teach "small unit" tactics (We soon learned that there was NOTHING that we could teach the native hunters about bush-craft & "hit & run" fighting. - In reality, they taught us.) & thereafter gave each village chief ten Model 1893 Mauser rifles & ammunition & asked him to arm his 10 best hunters to protect their own local area.
(Obviously, the local chiefs KNEW more than we did as to who could best defend their hamlet/village from the narcotrafficantes & border bandits.- EVERY local "village protector" was 100% excited & thrilled to be given a Model 1893 Mauser rifle, which they thought of as "a modern rifle".)

Note: MOST of the local "Indios" had preciously had NO firearm. Other hunters had/used bows/arrows/spears, a muzzeloader or an ancient single-barrel shotgun for hunting. = A "census" of one native village found TWO muzzle-loading/flintlok muskets & less than a 1/2 pound of BP & some "homemade" lead shot.

yours, tex

Last edited by DarlaG; 01/28/19. Reason: typos