The Curaçao/Aruba Forward Operating Location works with different agencies to counter transnational criminal organizations. Partner nations and the United States are on constant alert in their common battle against drug trafficking. The Curaçao/Aruba Forward Operating Location (FOL), also known as Security Cooperation Location, is a tactical location, which allows U.S. [ … ]
International Relations
A Maritime-Focused Combined Task Force
From a military perspective, the maritime domain represents maneuver space. In the southern portion of the Western Hemisphere, this maneuver space is invaluable, particularly during a crisis. After a hurricane, an earthquake, a flood, a volcanic eruption, or a man-made disaster, crisis response forces with amphibious platforms can launch humanitarian [ … ]
Venezuelan Immigrants Receive Medical Care In Trinidad During Comfort Visit
Estanda was just one of 6,000 patients seen during USNS Comfort’s mission to Trinidad and Tobago, September 3-12. The ship is comprised of medical professionals from the U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy, alongside participants from eight partner nations and nongovernmental organizations. Surgeons also performed more than 115 operations aboard [ … ]
Bolivia Receives International Support to Fight Fires in Amazon
More than 7,000 members of the Armed Forces, police, and firefighters continue to work tirelessly to fight wildfires in the Bolivian Amazon that have already wiped out nearly 5 million acres, according to official figures from the Evo Morales government. About 18 aircraft and more than 200 vehicles take part [ … ]
Colombia Leads Multinational Task Force against Narcotrafficking
Under the leadership of the Colombian Air Force (FAC), air forces of the Americas train to create a multinational task force to counter narcotrafficking. The idea, conceived in 2018, culminated with the Colombia-Guatemala binational air interdiction operation COLGUA II, conducted in the first half of 2019, which activated the multinational [ … ]
Multinational Operations Improve Defense in the Amazon Region and Provide Care to Riverine Populations
“The goal is to improve the level of training, interoperability, and integration among naval forces for the security of the Amazon region,” said Brazilian Navy Vice Admiral Paulo César Colmenero Lopes, commander of the 9th Naval District, the military institution responsible for monitoring the more than 13,500-mile waterway in the [ … ]
Comfort Staff Exchanges Medical Strategies with Colombian Counterparts
Medical staff assigned to U.S. Navy Hospital Ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) met with Colombian military and civilian medical personnel to collaborate during subject matter expert exchanges (SMEE) at Battalion Córdoba military base, August 20, and University Hospital Julio Méndez Barreneche, August 26. More than 90 medical personnel attended the [ … ]
Peruvian Navy Training Ship Concludes Instructional Trip
In the engine room of training ship BAP (Peruvian Navy Ship, in Spanish) Unión, navy cadets on board the largest sailing boat in Latin America receive instructions on working with engines, while other cadets rehearse nautical maneuvers on deck. For five months, 114 cadets in their third year at the [ … ]
Navies from 15 Countries Attend Warships Conference in Rio de Janeiro
Brazil hosted the Warships and Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) Latin America Conference, June 25-27, 2019. Navy representatives from 15 countries — Argentina, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, the United States, and Uruguay — attended the eighth edition of the annual event in Rio de Janeiro. This is the fourth time [ … ]
Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, United States Create Counter-terrorism Groupbhaez
The agreement, announced on July 19, 2019, coincided with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to Buenos Aires to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the attack on the Argentine Jewish Mutual Aid Society (AMIA, in Spanish). The Argentine court seeks to indict Iranian officials for ordering — and Hezbollah [ … ]
UNITAS 2019: A Model for Integration and Interoperability Between Navies
A war operation, but focused on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief was the theme for the multinational maritime exercise UNITAS LX (the 60th edition), which concluded on August 30, 2019. Rio de Janeiro served as the backdrop for the event. [themepacific_column width="one-half" pos="first"] The main objective of Exercise UNITAS 2019 [ … ]
Military Forces of Five Countries Join Efforts Against Narco-deforestation
Central American and Caribbean military officials agreed on measures to protect and preserve the environment and natural resources at the Central American Armed Forces- (CFAC, in Spanish) IX Specialized Environmental Meeting. The event took place at the Salvadoran Armed Force's Military Doctrine and Education Command on July 1-4. “The environment [ … ]