[1] PRARNG is the ground-component of the Puerto Rico National Guard under control of the governor of Puerto Rico, currently Pedro Pierluisi, that performs missions equivalent to those of the Army National Guards of the different states of the United States, including ground defense, disaster relief, and control of civil unrest.

[2] In 1989, Congress authorized federal funding to permit the local National Guards to support drug interdiction and other counter-drug activities.

Despite this and other authority over the program granted to the Secretary of Defense, the statute required that the National Guard personnel involved in these operations be under local control and "not in Federal service," id.

Beginning in 1989, the Puerto Rico National Guard used the federal funds provided under section 112 for a variety of counter-drug projects.

The Puerto Rico National Guard claims to be a direct descendant of the original militia that existed on the Island since the time of the Spanish colonization at the beginning of the 16th century.

Since that unconfirmed date in 1511 when Taino Indians killed Cristobal de Sotomayor and burned the town named in his honor, the Borinquen colonists had to form, by necessity, a sort of National Guard unit with citizens as its soldiers.

Dark skinned Puerto Ricans were placed in such racially segregated units as the 396th Infantry, "The Harlem Hell Fighters" who fought under French command.

The Puerto Rico National Guard (PRNG) has concentrated on the Homeland Defense [HLD] mission by fighting drug-related crime on the archipelago and providing humanitarian relief to the communities affected by the drug trade.

During Operation Centurion in 1996, PRNG units and the police moved into 76 housing projects to arrest dealers and criminals and restore community order.

Once the target area was cleared of identifiable criminal elements, infantry, artillery, engineer and maintenance personnel helped community agencies rebuild housing complexes, distribute antidrug literature, rehabilitate facilities and dispose of garbage.

Operation FRONTIER SHIELD was introduced in fiscal year 1997 to test this concept in the maritime approaches to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

This region was identified as the second largest gateway, behind the Southwest Border, for drugs entering the United States and provided an emergent opportunity to create an immediate and measurable impact.

In 1997, drug related crime was down 37 percent from the year before and the Governor no longer needed the Puerto Rico National Guard to maintain order in the housing areas.

At the international level, the 113th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment deployed to Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador in support of Hurricane Mitch disaster relief.

Aviation units provided helicopter support to Joint Task Force Esteli in Nicaragua as part of the US Southern Command Exercise New Horizons '99.