JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas –
The week-long Central American Regional Leaders Conference concluded March 23 at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston. U.S. Army South hosted senior leaders from the armies and police of 10 nations throughout the Central American region.
The aim of the conference is to build relationships while developing combined plans to counter threats within the region.
“The relationships we enjoy with our partners throughout the hemisphere is incredibly important because we will continue to depend on it to understand the security challenges, and to understand the importance of continuing to find ways to share info more effectively, and to cooperate more effectively,” said Navy Admiral Kurt W. Tidd, commander, U.S. Southern Command.
Tidd explained the two distinct purposes of conferences like the Regional Leaders Conference. The first -- and more easily identifiable – is to clearly state which nations can bring which resources to combat known threats. The second purpose of this conference also helps to better prepare members of the region for future problems that haven’t been identified yet.
However, those capabilities and strengths aren’t automatically known to all in attendance. The senior members of each partner nation’s security forces must be comfortable with sharing that information.
“There is a very strong Army-to-Army relationship and that is very evident. You can see in the ease in which the leadership expresses themselves and how appreciative they are, and their openness and willingness to work together,” said Ambassador Liliana Ayalde, U.S. Southern command civilian deputy to the commander and foreign policy advisor.
Ayalde said she has seen interagency collaboration at all levels during her more than 30 years working as a diplomat. She said sharing information and combining efforts help to make the results and the impact that much more effective when done with interagency as opposed to an isolated form.
The point of the conference doesn’t just make the work easier for all involved, it makes it possible.
"None of us have all the resources that we require to be able to solve security challenges that we face on our own,” Tidd said. “We require joint interagency, intergovernmental and multinational cooperation.”
Tidd went on to say that because of past exchanges, the partners in attendance already enjoy a high level of trust with each other and that trust is critical to collectively developing plans to counter the complex threats within the region.
This was the 10th iteration of the Regional Leaders Conference, with each conference building on the preceding conference’s progress.