Op-Ed

Partnership for the Americas

March 12, 2007

Op-Ed by James Stavridis
Admiral, U.S. Navy
Commander, U.S. Southern Command


This past Monday, the President announced important new initiatives for the Western Hemisphere. From my point of view as the Commander of United States Southern Command, the President’s initiatives underscore the vital connection we share with the wonderful and diverse nations of the Americas. Today, more than ever, common interests interweave the fabric of this beautiful hemisphere. We share common challenges and opportunities; and our futures are inextricably linked.

At U.S. Southern Command, the military organization focused on the 32 nations and 13 territories of Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, we devote a considerable amount of energy to the study of these challenges and opportunities. We pursue a host of programs designed to foster security, stability, and goodwill in the region, with the ultimate goal of enabling the spread of true prosperity to the 450 million people living in this part of the Americas.

The key to the future of this great region is understanding — understanding each other, understanding our shared challenges, and understanding the promise of security cooperation for our shared future. When it comes to our philosophy, the Southern Command motto directly reflects our approach: “Partnership for the Americas.”
The first step in creating lasting and beneficial partnerships is through building and communicating understanding. The U.S. shares numerous and compelling linkages to the people and societies in the Americas. Besides our geographical and historical
affinities, we are linked by the common values of democracy and respect for human rights; we are increasingly interdependent economically, with 40 percent of U.S. trade flowing north and south in this hemisphere; and we share growing human and cultural connections, with about fifteen percent of our population having Hispanic origins. At Southern Command, we study these linkages and communicate their importance as we strive to build and strengthen relationships in the region through effective strategic communication and interagency partnering.

When you analyze the challenges we face together in the region, you quickly realize that no one nation — big or small — can successfully overcome them. Illegal drug trafficking, criminal activity, gangs, human smuggling, terrorist financing and recruitment, natural disasters — none of these stop at a nation’s border. These challenges require cooperative solutions; they require partnerships.

At U.S. Southern Command, we are committed to being good partners — to being the partner of choice throughout the region. Every day, year-after-year, we dedicate the majority of our resources toward building the security capabilities of our partners, while working to encourage an environment of cooperation among all of the nations in the region.

This involves numerous training exercises, educational programs, technology sharing, intelligence sharing, security procurement assistance, humanitarian aid, and a myriad of other programs. We endeavor to improve our region’s ability to respond to today’s and tomorrow’s security challenges. Through a steady improvement in security, we can help create the conditions that will enable this region to counter the poverty and inequality that has gripped it for so long.

Besides our many training exercises and security cooperation programs, U.S. Southern Command conducts a variety of humanitarian goodwill activities that directly help those in need while providing needed training to our team. As an example of our commitment to the people of the region, our medical personnel treat about 250,000 patients on an annual basis, varying from routine prevention to the most serious emergency cases. Each year we also build or refurbish a number of clinics, schools, community centers, and wells. Just this past weekend, we flew critical relief supplies to the victims of the devastating flooding in Bolivia. All of these efforts contribute to showing goodwill, to building relationships, and perhaps most importantly, to building understanding.

As the President just announced, this summer we are sending a U.S. Hospital Ship, the Comfort, on a first-time deployment to Central America and the Caribbean to visit various nations’ ports on both sides of the Panama Canal in order to treat upwards of 85,000 people who lack access to medical care. This spring, we are also sending a specially configured U.S. Navy logistics ship on a seven-month tour of the region to perform a variety of training and maintenance events focused on helping our partners better secure their ports and coastal waters.

The President characterized his speech Monday as “a speech that sets out a direction for this country in regards to our neighborhood,” — the Americas. I truly believe this is the right time for all of us, inside and outside the U.S. government, to work together on the challenges facing this hemisphere. By doing so, we can realize the true promise of the Americas — and it all begins with building and communicating true understanding, leading to a real and vibrant “Partnership for the Americas.”