U.S. Army South hosted a delegation from the El Salvadoran Army recently for a series of staff talk steering committee meetings on JBSA-Ft. Sam Houston. The delegation from El Salvador was led by Col. Angel Lima.
These annual bi-lateral talks allow military planners to discuss and prepare a variety of important security cooperation activities in addition to working out the details of future joint engagements and professional military development between the two armies.
After several days of presentations, group discussions and special breakout sessions, participants made recommendations on a variety of subjects of mutual interest and finalized agreed to actions for 2019. One of the agreed to actions discussed last week focused on security forces training with an emphasis on soldiers conducting border security missions. Future planning is also underway to develop unit level training involving infantry units.
These steering committee meetings are in preparation for the 12th annual executive level staff talks between El Salvador and Army South which will take place later this year in June when the agreed to action will be officially signed.
“These bi-lateral meetings are very important and will help our Army develop and focus our military tasks in addition to improving our public security against a variety of common threats,” said Col. Angel Lima, El Salvadoran Army. “It will also improve our joint efforts and strengthen security across El Salvador and the surrounding regions.”
Some of the topics of discussion included joint military exercises, joint training and professional exchanges and Soldier development. Joint humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts were also discussed.
“These engagements are important to our national security and also help to promote a more stable region, said Maj. Jimmy Isakson, U.S. Army South’s Desk Officer for El Salvador. “The crime networks that exist in Central America create regional instability which leads to increased crime and drug trafficking which is something that concerns everyone.”
As the Army service component command for U.S. Southern Command, U.S. Army South, on behalf of the Army's chief of staff, conducts staff talks with partner nation armies from El Salvador, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru to foster bilateral partnerships, and discuss ways to counter transnational organized threats.