Medical professionals and military engineers will arrive in the Colombian Caribbean Coast for the Continuing Promise humanitarian mission 2023, of the United States Southern Command, through its naval forces.
Continuing Promise includes an academic, artistic component, as well as agreements framed in a vision of social assistance for the most vulnerable communities.
An interdisciplinary team of professionals from Colombia and the United States will meet by August 20 and 30 in Santa Marta and Riohacha to participate in the exchange of medical knowledge and biomedical equipment engineering in the mission Continuing Promise 2023.
This group, made up of military personnel, medical professionals, representatives of civilians and non-governmental organizations will have the purpose of consolidating and strengthening the ties of cooperation between the two nations.
This exchange is part of the activities of Continuing Promise, the name that the United States Southern Command has established for the missions that provide medical care, humanitarian assistance and civic support to the communities of Latin America and the Caribbean, on behalf of the American people. U.S. military personnel and medical specialists will arrive on the logistics ship USNS Burlington in Santa Marta.
The activities will consist of facilitating medical preparation through the exchange of experiences and knowledge, and thus improving the combined resources in the field of medical and veterinary assistance, first aid instructions, disaster care, and maintenance and repair of biomedical equipment. In addition, the construction of medical and improvement of schools will be carried out to strengthen the commitment of both governments to the well-being and sustainable development of the region.
This meeting will in the same way have an academic component, through symposiums that will promote the participation of women in areas related to peace and security, to make visible the importance of gender equity and equal opportunities in these aspects, of vital importance for society.
In Santa Marta, Colombian specialists of the Julio Méndez Barreneche University Hospital, the La Castellana Clinic and the Bastidas health center will be able to exchange experiences with American professionals. Construction support will be provided at Mother Mazzarello School. In addition to these activities, the musical groups of the School will be presented long with those of the Colombian Navy, and the United States Navy accompanied by of local groups.
In Riohacha, professional exchanges with doctors will be held at the Nuestra Señora de los Remedios Hospital, as well as a medical activity in the Wayúu people settlements of La Cachaca 3 and construction support will be provided at the Santa Cruz Rancheria School.
In Colombia, the coordinated logistical work of the government of Colombia through the General Command of the Military Forces, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Health, the Departmental Health Secretariat of Magdalena and Guajira, the mayors of Santa Marta and Riohacha, the INVIMA, the DIAN, Migration Colombia, ICBF (family wellbeing), among other district and departmental institutions, the U.S. Embassy in Colombia and the Naval Forces of the U.S. Southern Command, will lead the improvement of the living conditions of the vulnerable inhabitants of Santa Marta and rural areas of Riohacha and the response capacity of all participants in times of crisis.
