Photo By Master Sgt. Paul Meeker | From left to right: Army Col. Cynthia Zapotoczny, office of the Deputy Commander of...... read more read more
By Army 1st Sgt. Paul Meeker, 241st Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
ST. THOMAS PARISH, Barbados — Before a scheduled Tradewinds 2017 “cave-in” rescue operations commenced, June 9, at Harrison’s Cave, St. Michael Parish, Barbados, three Peruvian army officers waiting to observe the exercise discussed some of the reasons for their visit to Tradewinds with their two American hosts, senior officers representing the office of the Deputy Commander of Manpower & Reserve Affairs, U.S. Southern Command.
Their goal at Tradewinds 2017 was to learn new life-saving response strategies to natural disasters such as flooding and mudslides caused by earthquakes, said Maj. Hernan J. Garrido-Lecca, an operations officer in the Peruvian army reserve and a former minister of two Peruvian federal agencies: Housing, Construction and Sanitation (2006-2007) and Health (2007-2008).
The problem is real. According to an AP news release dated March 18, 2017, secondary effects of earthquakes had already killed 72 people so far this year at the time of publication.
Another goal shared by Lt. Alexander Salgado-Bryson, also a Peruvian army reserve operations officer, was to participate in the Tradewinds 2017 leaders’ discussions of transnational crime, specifically human trafficking. Bryson said that two entities largely responsible for human trafficking in Peru are Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), a Maoist rebel group actively resisting the government of Peru, and narco-terrorist organizations.
Victims of kidnapping in Peru’s jungle interior are often members of indigenous groups and include children as young as three, said Bryson. He added that some of the children who have been freed from captivity by the Peruvian armed forces have included children born to women who were kidnapped and subsequently raped.
U.S. Army Col. Irene M. Zoppi, one of the American officers hosting the Peruvian army guests, said the value of the Peruvian’s visit is to demonstrate the “unity of partners working together in an exercise that increases their [the Peruvians] understanding of best practices in areas such as transnational crime, human trafficking and human rights awareness.”
Tradewinds 2017 is a joint, combined exercise conducted by 20 partner nations to enhance the collective abilities of defense forces and constabularies to counter transnational organized crime, and to conduct humanitarian and disaster relief operations.
| Date Taken: | 06.11.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 06.11.2017 09:16 |
| Story ID: | 237254 |
| Location: | BB |
| Web Views: | 381 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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