The ceremony served as a platform for government and military officials to officially signify the end to this year’s BTH humanitarian-aid mission in Guatemala. The ceremony included speeches, from U.S. and Guatemalan officials, of thanks for one another and helped to build upon the established partnership between the two nations.
“This year we were able to provide more patient care than we were in any of the previous exercises,” said U.S. Army Brig. Gen. James Wong, Deputy Commanding General, Director of Operations and National Guard Affairs, U.S. Army South. “Thanks to support from local non-governmental agencies, Guatemalan health care providers, partner military elements from Chile, Canada and Trinidad and Tobago, our team was able to see more than 500 patients each day at the three medical training sites. It is great to have Guatemalan soldiers and U.S. service members working together, building friendships, learning from one another, and ultimately, making this year’s mission a success for the people of Guatemala.”
The total number of patients seen at the three medical readiness training exercises exceeded 19,000 patients from multiple regional municipalities. Furthermore, the Task Force Red Wolf exercise constructed two schools and three medical clinics for five different municipalities within Guatemala.
“This program of cohesion and cooperation designed to provide humanitarian support consisted of construction projects and medical readiness exercises to benefit the local communities of Guatemala,” said Carlos Raul Morales, Republic of Guatemala Minister of Foreign Affairs. “This humanitarian exercise has international cooperation that allows our military to act in a larger and more efficient capacity to deal with future challenges within our communities.”
Beyond the physical and visible effects this mission has had on the local communities, there was a subtle, yet, long-lasting improvement between the partner nations.
“This exercise represents a vision of the future for Guatemala,” said Robinson, U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Guatemala. “The strategic relationship between the governments of Central America and the United States of America come together to reach a shared vision of prosperity."