{"id":27927,"date":"2023-09-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=27927"},"modified":"2023-09-19T06:41:11","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T06:41:11","slug":"in-colombia-hokanson-highlights-security-cooperation-partnerships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=27927","title":{"rendered":"In Colombia, Hokanson Highlights Security Cooperation Partnerships"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Multinational senior leader participants in the South American Defense Conference 2023 (SOUTHDEC 23) in Cartagena, Colombia, Aug. 23, 2023. U.S. Army Gen. Laura Richardson, commander, U.S. Southern Command, joined defense leaders from 10 nations to discuss security challenges and regional cooperation during SOUTHDEC 23, hosted by Colombia, Aug. 23-24, 2023. Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, National Guard Bureau, highlighted the role of the Department of Defense National Guard State Partnership Program in security cooperation. This image was acquired using a cellular device.
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CARTAGENA, Colombia \u2013 Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson joined regional defense leaders at U.S. Southern Command\u2019s South American Defense Conference 2023 recently, highlighting the role of the Department of Defense National Guard State Partnership Program in security cooperation.<\/p>\n

The 29th Chief of the National Guard Bureau\u2019s stop here was part of a larger itinerary in Central and South America to nurture National Guard relationships, deepen understanding of challenges and seek new opportunities in the region.<\/p>\n

The Republic of Colombia has partnered with the South Carolina National Guard for 11 years, and Columbia hosted SOUTHCOM\u2019s annual conference of defense leaders Aug. 23-24.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe deeply appreciate the partnership of the Military Forces of Colombia with South Carolina,\u201d Hokanson said, \u201cand their professionalism and willingness to work together. We learn together, and each of us gets better as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hokanson emphasized the importance of collaboration between U.S. and South American armed forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have shared interests and concerns,\u201d he said. \u201cWe all really live very close to each other. What impacts any one of us, impacts all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOUTHDEC 23 \u2013 the SOUTHCOM conference \u2013 addressed two key issues: Cyber security and climate\/environmental security.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate change and environmental degradation remain \u2018threat multipliers\u2019 and pose a significant risk to our security,\u201d Army Gen. Laura Richardson, SOUTHCOM commander, told regional defense leaders from 10 South American countries and observers from Canada and four European countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fallout of COVID-19 continues to impact our economies,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cThe malign activities of transnational criminal organizations, Iran, and our strategic competitors \u2013 China and Russia \u2013 remain.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the dire situation in Venezuela casts a long shadow over the region. The fact is these transboundary threats demand our attention as they place an undue burden on our citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Army Maj. Gen Van McCarty, adjutant general, South Carolina National Guard, was one of the National Guard leaders at SOUTHDEC 23 representing the states that have SPP security cooperation relationships with the 12 South American nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe we\u2019re learning as much as we\u2019re hopefully teaching in this relationship,\u201d McCarty said. \u201cMy message would be to take every opportunity we have together to recognize the challenges we have, to recognize the capacity, the capabilities, we have to work on common solutions, and to realize we have a lot more in common than we have in difference: We have many of the same issues, same concerns and the same priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The South Carolina National Guard is executing more than 30 engagements with Colombia this year, with a similar number planned for next year.<\/p>\n

Most recently, South Carolina Army and Air Guardsmen joined a humanitarian assistance exercise, treating more than 4,400 patients through medical events, evaluations, surgeries and dental care in Cartagena and surrounding areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity for our Soldiers and Airmen who have medical skills to come down and put those to practical application,\u201d McCarty said, noting that many of the Guardsmen bring civilian-acquired medical skills to their military profession.<\/p>\n

South Carolina also joins large-scale military exercises in Colombia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe light infantry here in Colombia is some of the best in the world, and Colombia\u2019s special forces are also very good,\u201d Hokanson said. \u201cSo the exercises are very beneficial.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. and regional forces routinely train together in annual exercises; the partners collaborate to detect, disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal organizations and traffickers; and SOUTHCOM supports regional humanitarian assistance missions.<\/p>\n

SOUTHCOM is one of the nation\u2019s six geographically focused unified commands. The command is responsible for U.S. military operations in the Caribbean, Central America and South America, and for security cooperation with regional defense and public security forces.<\/p>\n

— U.S. Southern Command, Air Force Capt. Jon LaDue, and Army Sgt. 1st Class Zach Sheely contributed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Multinational senior leader participants in the South American Defense Conference 2023 (SOUTHDEC 23) in Cartagena, Colombia, Aug. 23, 2023. U.S. Army Gen. Laura Richardson, commander, U.S. Southern Command, joined defense leaders from 10 nations to discuss security challenges and regional cooperation during SOUTHDEC 23, hosted by Colombia, Aug. 23-24, 2023. Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27929,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27927"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27930,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27927\/revisions\/27930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}