Military and security forces from 17 Caribbean nations have joined the United States, Canada, Mexico and Belize for maritime security and disaster response training at St. Kitts as part of “Exercise Tradewinds 2015” that began on May 31.
“Tradewinds provides the opportunity to develop and strengthen our partnerships and allows all the participants to collaborate together to ensure regional security,” said Gen. John F. Kelly, commander, U.S. Southern Command, based in Doral. This year’s Tradewinds will be conducted in three phases that include (1) maritime and land operations in St. Kitts and Nevis through June 9; (2) maritime and land operations, including U.S.
Marines in Belize June 15-24; (3) a Key Leader Seminar conducted July 14-16 in Miami stakeholders and decision makers from within the region. The exercise supports the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI), a U.S. Department of State regional security partnership.
