SOUTHDEC 25 Forges a Unified Front in South America

Defense and security leaders pose for a group photo at the South American Defense Conference (SOUTHDEC) 2025, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 20, 2025. The event, a crucial forum for regional leaders to exchange ideas and experiences on collaborative efforts to address shared security challenges, was hosted by the Argentine Armed Forces’ Joint Chiefs of Staff and sponsored by U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), August 19-21, 2025. (Photos: U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Christopher Bermúdez)

“Sovereignty is not negotiable. Peace is built with law, legitimate force, and cooperation. Your America has been and must continue to be a zone of peace. Maintaining that status requires clarity of principles, credible capabilities, and reliable alliances,” said Argentine Defense Minister Luis Petri during his opening remarks at SOUTHDEC 25.

Chiefs of defense from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, the United States, and Uruguay attended SOUTHDEC 25, along with observers from Canada, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

“The expanding scope, scale, and strength of transnational criminal organizations throughout the region is a top concern […]. Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party continues its methodical incursion in the region, seeking to export its authoritarian model, extract precious resources, and set the theater with potential dual use infrastructure from ports to space,” said U.S. Navy Admiral Alvin Holsey, SOUTHCOM commander, during his opening remarks at SOUTHDEC 25.

Discussions at SOUTHDEC 25 centered on two primary topics: enhanced maritime domain awareness and military support to law enforcement in countering transnational criminal organizations.

During his opening remarks at SOUTHDEC 25, Brigadier General Xavier Julián Isaac, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Argentine Armed Forces, said that countries of the region often view hybrid and transnational threats as distant problems. “But then we see and learn that these threats are beginning to transform and appear elsewhere […]. That’s why this conference is so important, so that countries can share what we think won’t happen to us but which they are already suffering.”