The Puerto de Motril received some unusual visitors; 180 to be precise, armed to the teeth.

Fortunately, it was a military contingent on a field exercise tasked with surveillance and protection of the coastline. They will remain there until the 18th

The deployment belongs to the Operaciones de Presencia, Vigilancia y Disuasión (OPVD) which operates on home ground rather than overseas deployments.

The Chairman of the Port Authorities, José García Fuentes, sidled up to the officer commanding at the small encampment set up inside the port and asked if they needed anything and that the port would provide full support during their stay.

The Regimiento de Artillería de Costa nº 4 (RACTA 4) is commanded by Teniente Coronel Manuel Holgado del Águila. It is integrated within the Mando Operativo Marítimo (Maritime Operational Command), which monitors marine traffic in the vicinity of the port on the look out for suspicious activity.

Quite apart from the bloody great cannon, they have the necessary communications equipment and logistic & system capabilities for advanced command & control. They also have the Spanish Legion normally based in Viator (Almería) providing base security – not to be messed with.

However, they have promised not to frighten the civvies or make a nuisance of themselves in general… apart from towards the enemy, of course.

This sort of deployment from these units, together with naval and air ones, maintain a strategic control of the maritime lanes connecting the Med with the Atlantic via the Mar de Alborán.

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

Keywords: Spanish Legion, Viator, Almería, Port Authorities, José García Fuentes, Regimiento de Artillería de Costa

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