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The Canadian Armed Forces, the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), the Dominican Air Force (FARD), and the 23rd Air Expeditionary Wing (23rd AEW) of U.S. Air Forces Southern/12th Air Force (AFSOUTH), carried out combined exercise Forward Tiger 2023 to increase interoperability in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. The February 17-March 4 exercise was carried out in the airspace and bases of…
The Colombian Army’s urban search and rescue (USAR) team, USAR-COL13, of the Disaster Attention Engineer Brigade, put its ground humanitarian aid capabilities to the test to earn the highest classification for search and rescue in collapsed structures, the Colombian Military Forces’ General Command (CGFM) said in a statement. “With this certification, the USAR-COL13 will be able to intervene with the…
Service members from the Brazilian Navy (MB, in Portuguese), Brazilian Army (EB, in Portuguese) and Brazilian Air Force (FAB, in Portuguese) are working in support of the state of emergency due to heavy rains that have been plaguing the south of Bahia state, in the country’s northeast region. More than 70,000 people have been displaced, 29,000 are homeless, and 26…
The Brazilian Air Force (FAB, in Portuguese) carried out another humanitarian aid mission to Haiti and sent five tons of food, medicines, solar panels, and water purifiers aboard a KC-390 Millennium aircraft that took off on September 11, 2021. The operation was part of a joint effort by the ministries of Justice and Public Security, Defense, Foreign Affairs, Health, and…
U.S. emergency workers are rushing to assist Haiti after a massive earthquake, searching for survivors, airlifting them to hospitals and delivering urgent humanitarian assistance. President Biden authorized an immediate response after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on August 14. The earthquake killed at least 2,200 people and injured more than 12,000 as of August 23, according to the government…
On June 21, the Argentine National Gendarmerie (GNA, in Spanish) seized more than 4 tons of marijuana in Misiones province, on the border with Paraguay. Authorities found the marijuana during border control and surveillance operations, the GNA reported in several statements. During the first operation, a patrol of gendarmes located a truck that was stuck on a dirt road near…
One week after the La Soufrière volcano erupted on the island of St. Vincent, member nations of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and other countries of the region continue to offer their support to the Vincentian government by opening their borders to receive evacuees and providing emergency supplies and equipment. The volcano, which first erupted on April 9, has experienced several…
Four months after Hurricane Iota devastated the Colombian Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia, and Santa Catalina, the Colombian Military Forces continue to show their dedication to the affected communities. In mid-March, the Colombian Navy amphibious landing ship ARC Golfo de Urabá provided additional logistics support and humanitarian aid to the islands, under the Ministry of Defense’s Plan Revival (Plan Renacer).…
Since mid-January, the Chilean Armed Forces have had a new role: countering human trafficking and migrant smuggling, a growing regional problem. On January 12, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera signed a decree that enables support of the Armed Forces in border control to combat illegal migration. This decree expands a law passed in August 2019 (Decree 265), facilitating military support to…
The U.S. Army deployed its amphibious landing ship USAV Chickahominy (LCU 2011) in Colombia to help the Colombian Military Forces transport humanitarian assistance to the San Andrés and Providencia archipelago, in response to the emergency caused by Hurricane Iota, which devastated much of the islands on November 16, 2020. The crew, consisting of 10 U.S. Army service members who are…
After nearly a month of supporting foreign humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (FHA/DR) operations under authorities granted by the U.S. Acting Secretary of Defense, at the request of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) and Joint Task Force Bravo (JTF-Bravo) concluded immediate response missions for hurricanes Eta and Iota in Central America on December 2, 2020.…
A task force of approximately 25 people and three aircraft assigned to the 1st Battalion, 228th Aviation Regiment, Joint Task Force Bravo (JTF-Bravo) returned to Honduras from Guatemala City, Guatemala, on November 28. Their return comes after the U.S. military personnel rapidly deployed to Guatemala City for a second time on November 21 to assist local government officials in rescue…
