Operation Green Brazil and new technologies were essential to fight the fires in Northern Brazil. Operation Green Brazil combined military commands linked to public safety organizations, public environmental protection entities, and federal, state, and municipal agencies to fight wildfires in the Amazon. The August 24-October 24 operation yielded the following [ … ]
Rapid Response
US, Rio Treaty Partners Tackle Maduro Threat
The United States and 15 other members of the Rio Treaty passed a resolution September 23 in New York that paves the way for collective action against the Nicolás Maduro regime in Venezuela. The treaty, formally known as the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR, in Spanish), has been in [ … ]
Armed Forces Fight Fires In The Amazon
Since August 24, 2019, the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) has been using two C-130 Hercules aircraft to fight the forest fires that have been raging through the Northern and Midwestern parts of Brazil. The aircraft have five water tanks with up to a 3,000-gallon capacity. As they fly over areas [ … ]
Countries of the Americas Face Environmental Disaster Scenarios
The Exercise on Interagency Operations on Protection of the Environmental and Natural Resources, carried out at the end of June, sought to coordinate participating forces’ responses. On the ground training took place at the facilities of the Argentine Army’s 12th Mountain Brigade, and included officers from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, [ … ]
Latin American and Caribbean Countries Focus on Chemical Defense Training
An enemy attack, an accident due to human error or a natural disaster could trigger the alarm for a chemical threat, exposing people and nature to potentially harmful agents. The objective of the Regional Assistance and Protection Exercise for Member States of the Latin American and Caribbean Region (EXBRALC IV, [ … ]
U.S. Southern Command Leads Regional Emergency Response Exercise
FAHUM 2019 evaluates response, evacuation, and victim care mechanisms during natural disasters. U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) led and sponsored the combined exercise Humanitarian Allied Forces 2019 (FAHUM, in Spanish), which was conducted May 6-17 in the Dominican Republic. The event gathered Humanitarian Rescue Units (UHR, in Spanish) from Argentina, Brazil, [ … ]
SOUTHCOM Helps Rural Salvadoran Communities
U.S. Southern Command and the Salvadoran Armed Force will provide medical services to coastal and border areas with high crime and poverty rates. Units of U.S. Army South (ARSOUTH) and the Salvadoran Armed Force (FAES, in Spanish), will work jointly to provide free specialized medical services to rural communities besieged [ … ]
Buque hospital de la Marina de los EE. UU. y misión Promesa Duradera regresan a causa de crisis venezolana en la región
The U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) is scheduled to deploy in June from Naval Station Norfolk to the Caribbean, Central America, and South America to conduct humanitarian medical assistance missions in support of regional partners and in response to the regional impacts of the Venezuela political and [ … ]
Honduran Armed Forces Support Poor Communities
The Honduran Armed Forces provide medical support through a civil-military program. The Honduran Armed Forces began their annual civil-military program on February 3, 2019, with a series of medical brigades in the country’s north, central, and western regions. The objective is to provide medical assistance to more than a million [ … ]
Brazilian Armed Forces Respond to Mining Disaster
Service members, firefighters, civil defense teams, police officers, doctors, and volunteers worked on the greatest rescue operation in Brazil’s history, with more than 300 people missing or dead. The Brazilian Armed Forces deployed about 190 service members to search-and-rescue missions for one of the greatest disasters in the country. A [ … ]
The United States Delivers Additional Humanitarian Assistance in Cucuta, Colombia for the People of Venezuela
Three U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster IIIs transported humanitarian aid cargo to Cúcuta, for distribution in Venezuela. The United States is responding to Interim President Juan Guaido’s request to help meet the urgent needs of the people of Venezuela. On February 16, the U.S. Department of State, USAID, and the [ … ]
Brazil Extends Program Welcoming Venezuelan Migrants
Operation Shelter started in early 2018 and will extend through March 2020. The Brazilian government extended the Humanitarian Logistics Task Force’s (FTLogHum, in Portuguese) Operation Shelter for another year. Brazilian Minister of Defense Fernando Azevedo e Silva announced the decision at his January 2019 visit to the state of Roraima [ … ]