In a move to increase collaboration and partnership the Marine Infantry Command (COMIM) of the Paraguayan Navy hosted members of the U.S. Marine Corps Forces, South (MARFORSOUTH), for collaborative planning between militaries, April 8-11.
The staff planning working group, held in the city of Asunción, Paraguay, marks an important step in continuing and bolstering the relationship between the Paraguayan Marine Infantry and the U.S. Marine Corps. Officials from both sides emphasized the importance of maintaining a strong partnership to increase regional security in the Western Hemisphere.
“This is the first step in the right direction in reestablishing relationships,” said Paraguayan Navy Rear Admiral Albino Bogarin Flor, COMIM commander.
For MARFORSOUTH, staff-planning working groups with partner nations are routine business. For Paraguay, this marks a change in the relationship as the U.S. Marine Corps wants to establish a five-year plan to build training objectives and personnel exchanges with Paraguay that start with assessments and hope to lead to bilateral training exercises.
While the two Marine Corps have not conducted many bilateral exercises, they participate together in multilateral exercise UNITAS annually.
“This is about fostering and building relationships through the entire planning process and execution of our training,” said Colonel Jason A. Borovies, operations director for MARFORSOUTH. “A more expansive bilateral military relationship between Paraguay Marine Infantry and the United States Marine Corps can significantly enhance security in the region.”
Paraguay’s Marine Infantry has a particular mission that reflects the geographical nature of the country. As a land-locked country, Paraguay accesses the ocean through the tri-border area with Argentina and Brazil, where the Iguazú and Paraná rivers converge. With that, part of Paraguay’s Marine Infantry’s mission includes coastal defense functions through riverine operations. Additionally, they provide augmentations to prison security, law enforcement, and crowd control.
“We can learn to fit our objectives and strategies together, much like a puzzle,” said Paraguayan Navy captain Livio Alberto Duarte Romero, COMIM chief of General Staff.
The two Marine Corps discussed how to strengthen security in the Western Hemisphere by enhancing interoperability and coordination between the United States and Paraguay, deterring potential threats from transnational criminal organizations, facilitating information sharing, fostering regional stability, and improving responses to humanitarian crises and disasters.