A four star General in charge of the United States Southern Command was in the country today for a whirlwind tour. General John Craddock visited Belize at the invitation of BDF Commander Lloyd Gillett. So why is the Commander of SOUTHCOM in Belize? Our Alfonso Noble was the only local journalist to join the U.S. team on their Blackhawk helicopters as they tracked across Belize, and he found out.
This morning four star General John Craddock Commander of the U.S. Southern Command arrived in the country this morning. His first stop was the Price Barracks where he arrived in a U.S. Blackhawk helicopter with two others as escorts. He was met and briefed by Brigadier General Lloyd Gillett after which gifts were exchanged.
From Price Barracks, the military entourage of three black hawks headed to Caracol landing in the site's spectacular main plaza. There he was given another briefing on the problems encountered in the Chiquibul Forest by Colonel Ruel Black. Those include illegal Xate harvesting by and incursions by Guatemalans. After a brief tour of the site it was off again, landing at the BSI site at mile six on the Western Highway. From there it was on to Old Belize for lunch where owner John Woods gave General Craddock a guided tour. After lunch, it was off again to the Prime Minister's office in Belize City where Craddock met with Prime Minister Said Musa and Minister of Home Affairs Ralph Fonseca. He was then taken to the Marion Jones Sporting Complex and on to the International Airport. Before boarding his jet he spoke to us.
General John Craddock, SOUTHCOM
"We've met on several occasions and I told him I wanted to be here. The second is to receive capabilities on the organization of the Belize Defense Force. They were very good briefings and I understand much more about its organization and its capability. My goal is to continue to partner with Belize and to determine opportunities to be helpful wherever the United States can be."
And Gillet says the U.S. Army is already helpful but there are areas where their assistance would be appreciated.
Gen. Lloyd Gillet,
"The United States provides us with assistance very year, we get $200,000 from IMEF, another $200,000 for foreign military sales and that's for purchasing equipment and we also get from time to time people in the military academies in the United States. There is hope for further cooperation. The General admitted that we will hopefully see that on the coming years. We were able to brief him about Belize and what the BDF does so that he can understand the strategic importance of Belize, we are at a cross road between Central America and North America of the Western Caribbean, a lot drugs flow through here, a lot of illegal migrants flow through the area, and so he is now better able to understand the challenges that we face. He has met some of the personalities and he is better able to speak authoritatively about Belize. He left with a better idea of Belize and what Belize Defense Force."
Craddock left in his jet to the U.S., and from there he will head on to Haiti.
SOUTHCOM is responsible for all U.S. military activities in Central and South America and the Caribbean. That's a total of 32 countries or about 14.5 million square miles. Command headquarters are located in Miami, Florida since 1997.
