Tradewinds 2007 concludes at Price Barracks

Today marked the official wrap-up of Tradewinds 2007, the training exercise in which Belize hosted a thousand soldiers from fourteen Caribbean countries plus the U.S.A. and U.K. At closing ceremonies this evening at Price Barracks, Defence Minister Cordel Hyde noted that the mission of the region’s military has changed in recent years and the training must change with it.

Cordel Hyde, Minister of Defence
“The world has changed a lot over the last twenty-three years. Twenty-three years ago Central America was still in the middle of cruel civil wars; crack-cocaine had not yet hit the streets of the United States and the Caribbean had not really seen hard drugs just yet. Today, in the Caribbean things have changed a lot, a whole lot. Crack-cocaine is rampant and our countries are prime transhipment points for cocaine. And all cocaine leaves in its wake are broken lives, dead bodies and more broken lives and dead bodies. Guns and bullets are everywhere. The threats we face today are the so-called non-traditional threats. These include organized crime; involve illicit drugs, human smuggling, arms trafficking, money laundering and the potential threat of international terrorism. We also continue to face the crippling twin challenges of naked corruption and debilitating poverty. I am pleased that the training our soldiers received in this exercise will help us better prepare for most of those threats and challenges.”

The soldiers start returning home tomorrow, but the U.S. support group will be in the country for at least another week to pack up their supplies and equipment.