Law enforcement officials begin training to counter threats

CASTRIES (CMC):

More than 260 law enforcement and military officials from 14 Caribbean countries and the United States have started a training exercise here, focussing on increasing regional cooperation to counter illicit trafficking and eliminate threats to the region.

"Our regional threat is not a particular country or specific ideology. I think that we can agree that the great majority of the Caribbean countries share the thought that freedom of country is incomplete without freedom of mind and spirit of the individual citizen," said US Marine Corps Colonel Augustine Bolanio, the director of exercise for US Marine Corps Forces South.

The 11-day Tradewinds 2013 military exercise is also intended to build participating nations' capacity to plan and execute complex multinational security operations at the tactical and operational levels.

Police Commissioner Vernon Francois said the presence of the law and military officials underscores their commitment to regional integration.

The organisers said that Tradewinds 2013 is a combined and joint exercise conducted in conjunction with partner nations to enhance the collective ability of their defence forces and constabularies to counter transnational organised crime and conduct humanitarian and disaster-relief operations.

Trade 2013 is being attended by law enforcement and military officials from Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States.