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THE brother of missing Coast Guard officer Able Seaman Keiron Simon—who entered a narco-submarine as part of a multinational drug ope­ration before it sank in February—is appealing for the aid of the US government in retrieving the vessel, and likely his brother’s remains, from the ocean floor.

His call comes as the US has ramped up its military presence in the southern Caribbean as part of what it says is an effort to counter drug trafficking in the region and reduce its influx into North America.

Within the last two weeks, the US deployed eight modern warships, F-35 fighter jets, and 4,500 personnel to the region in a move experts call the largest show of US military force in the Caribbean in decades.