With the purpose of strengthening bilateral cooperation and strategies against threats that disturb security and defense in the region, General Luis Carlos Córdoba Avendaño, Commander of the Colombian Aerospace Force and Brigadier Omar Khan, Commander of the Guyana Defense Force, signed the Memorandum of Understanding on aerial surveillance and interception on August 25, 2025, in the city of Georgetown, Guyana.
During the event, held at the facilities of the Guyana Defense Force Command, both delegations expressed their commitment to implement this mechanism, in order to promote cooperation through defense air operations, establish standards and increase coordination and response resources conducted by the Command and Control Centers of both institutions.
In this regard, General Córdoba highlighted that "The skies must continue to be spaces to unite nations, not a source of insecurity and instability”; he in the same way highlighted the importance of progressive and effective rapprochement that seeks to consolidate a dynamic framework of interoperability in the region.
They in the same way agreed to promote the exchange of experiences, strengthening relations with local agencies and the implementation of training programs in this area, in order to confront threats related to transnational organized crime, especially drug trafficking by air.
This new alliance, which is part of the multinational air interception strategy ZEUS-ARCANO, through which structures at the service of drug trafficking have been weakened with the finding of more than 290 tons of illicit drugs since 2019, and conceived as an agreement of wills by countries of the region, will generate spaces to identify new opportunities for mutual support in instruction and training. It will in the same way lead to continue building synergies of the military operation to ensure the control of airspace and effective operations to counter common threats and instability factors in the region.
The strategy represents a regional, hemispheric and global challenge, aimed at blocking and hitting the air routes of drug trafficking to Europe and Africa by these criminal networks and other associated phenomena.
Source: International Affairs Office - OFASI
