THE United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) sponsored ‘Tradewinds Exercise 2021’, hosted by Guyana, with 17 participating nations including Canada, France and the United Kingdom, will aid in the promotion of sustained peace and stability across the Caribbean Region, and within the borders of partner states.

Those were the sentiments expressed by Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Brigadier Godfrey Bess, during the official opening ceremony of the exercise at the GDF’s Base Camp Ayanganna, Thomas Lands, Georgetown, on Sunday.

Bess told the small gathering that “sustained peace and stability” across the Region is of critical importance, especially in the face of a global environment witnessing unprecedented change in the political, economic, technological, environmental and human sustainability sectors.

He posited that within the Caribbean Region, the most visible perennial threats to social and economic stability continue to be the annual hurricanes, flooding and persistent narco-trafficking, and in some territories, gang violence also contributes to undermining such stability.

“While a purely security, military, or public-order response to address such plagues is not the forte of our nations, it has become necessary over the decades to engage our security forces as would be appropriate, given their constitutional roles,” Brigadier Bess said.

He added: “Such engagement tends to be limited in scope, but has generally aided the maintenance of internal stability in some of our states.”

The chief-of-staff said he is hopeful that the exercise will also help troops determine “best practices” in handing situations of natural disasters.

He cited the massive, countrywide flooding Guyana is currently facing, which was recently declared a national disaster, noting that the “unimaginable flooding, have [sic] laid waste to entire communities, snuffing out the livelihoods of thousands of citizens.”

“In fact, [a] recent report suggests that more than 29,000 households have been negatively impacted by this flood. During this exercise, we are hopeful that the training engaged will aid in troops determining the best practices of handling such occurrences,” the army chief said.

Additionally, he disclosed that the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) will also benefit from the training exercise, specifically their oil-spill response mechanism, especially now that Guyana is an oil- producing nation; an activity he anticipates “positive outcome” from.

Bess explained that the multinational exercise will see combined and inter-agency training focused on increasing regional cooperation in complex multi-national security operations, and is multidimensional in the sense that the training will be conducted on the ground, in the air, sea and cyberspaces of Guyana.

The exercise was scheduled to be held in 2020; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed. It is scheduled to run from June 13 to June 25, and Bess told the gathering that until then the nations “aim to work alongside each other, putting to work best practices as far as joint inter-agency collaborative engagement is suitable for addressing various challenges in our nations.”

Acknowledging that COVID-19 remains a significant threat, Bess explained that systems compatible with Guyana’s national COVID-19 regulations and protocols are in place, and will be strictly adhered to.

“Guyana, as well as the GDF, are proud to be hosting the exercise this year and we anticipate the high degree of professionalism and assimilation across the spectrum of training elements in which all participating troops will be exposed,” he said.

Also giving brief remarks at the simple ceremony was US SOUTHCOM J7/9 Deputy Director, Retired Lt. Col Kevin Bostick, who acknowledged the multi-stakeholder “effort” and “sacrifice” which was plugged into making the exercise a success.

“As I like to say, the enemy gets a vote, the enemy in this case, this past year, has been the coronavirus, but together what we [have] been able to do is mitigate that enemy as much as we possibly can. Do things the right way, get back on the field and be able to complete this exercise with the joint forces, multinational, and be able to do it on the ground, in person, in real time,” he said.

“We will always thrive [sic] to ensure that we’re building partnerships, that we’re teaming with our partners in the Area of Responsibility (AOR) … What this does is, it build [sic] partnerships, strengthens our partner capacity, it shows the security efforts so we can defeat threats, if need be. We know nobody can do it alone,” he added.

According to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Exercise Tradewinds is a Caribbean-focused training exercise designed to help participants better respond to natural disasters and land and maritime threats. It supports the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, as well as US SOUTHCOM’s goal of building partner- nation capacity at the tactical and operational levels.

All training locations provide opportunities to conduct joint, combined, and inter-agency partner-nation capacity-building focused on increasing regional cooperation in complex multinational security operations, as well as in humanitarian assistance and disaster-response operations.

Colonel, General Staff (GS) of the GDF, Colonel Julius Skeete, highlighted that the Tradewinds exercise demonstrates a story of “perseverance and commitment to task.”

“This is important because as armies, Defence Forces, Constabularies and Police Forces, we are required to operate effectively and efficiently in any environment or circumstances. Today’s simple, but important ceremony, signals that we have shaped a path for mission success, and I am confident that Exercise Tradewinds 2021 will achieve its objective and will be a resounding success,” he said.

Also present at the opening ceremony were U.S. Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch; High Commissioner of Canada to Guyana, Mark Berman and Director-General of the CDC, Lieutenant-Colonel Kester Craig.