United States Marine Corps Forces, South

The U.S. Marine Corps has a long history in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Raid of Nassau in March 1776 was the first amphibious operation by Continental Marines, taking place in the Bahamas during the American Revolutionary War. In April 1885, during political tensions in Panama, Marines were sent by the United States Secretary of the Navy to protect American interests in the isthmus of Panama. One battalion was deployed initially, and was later joined by another two battalions, forming a provisional Marine brigade under the command of Major Charles Heywood, a future commandant of the Marine Corps. Marines landed in Cuba and Puerto Rico during the Spanish–American War, a conflict that began the expansion of the Corps from a small force used to provide security aboard naval ships to a larger fleet marine force capable of expeditionary warfare. In November 1903 Marines were sent to Panama again to support the separation of Panama from Colombia, where the marine force included future commandant John A. Lejeune. with the latter involving Smedley Butler; and to the Dominican Republic in 1916. Marines were withdrawn from these countries in the early 1930s, with the onset of the Great Depression and President Franklin Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy. ==Organization==

The current objectives of MARFORSOUTH include the training of Latin American marines and naval infantry, providing disaster relief, and counter-terrorism. Since 2021, MARFORSOUTH has been supported by the United States Marine Corps Reserve (MARFORRES). As part of Force Design 2030, the Marine Reserve will be providing forces for Southern Command and all other theaters that are not part of the Indo-Pacific Command. Because of these changes, starting in 2021, MARFORSOUTH became a three-star command from the previous one-star, with Lieutenant General David Bellon being dual-hatted as the commanding general of both MARFORSOUTH and MARFORRES. Between 2014 and 2021 the Southern Command had a Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force assigned to it, until the Reserve took over that role. From 2014 to 2021, the Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force – Southern Command (SPMAGTF-SC) was stationed at Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras, from where it deployed Marines to participate in international training exercises and humanitarian relief missions across Latin America. ==List of commanders==