Thirty five Belize Defense Force soldiers and another 27 Police and Coast Guard officers are back in Belize tonight after participating in the 2006 Trade Winds Exercise. The venue this year was Jamaica and the focus was preparation for the 2007 world cricket cup which will be spread out over seven Caribbean countries next summer. This year's training ran from March 27th to April 7th and included 350 personnel from 22 countries. Belize's delegation was led by the BDF's Captain Lionel Cuthkelvin. They returned this morning on an American military C130 cargo plane and though the Cricket Cup won't be played in Belize, Captain Cuthkelvin told us why Belize participated.
Capt. Lionel Cuthkelvin, BDF
"Trade Winds is an annual exercise conducted in the region, in the Caribbean. It is designed to bring Caribbean countries together annually to train and be able to effectively respond to the different threats in the region in general."
2nd Lt. Eric Neal, BDF
"In this year's Trade Winds we learnt crowd control, we learnt how to effectively respond to any mass disasters, we learnt VCP strengthening relating to national security."
Capt. Lionel Cuthkelvin,
"This year's exercise is part of a these year program designed, it was focused ideally in preparing Caribbean for the Cricket World Cup 207 and the Caribbean and the West Indies will be hosting the Cricket World Cup for 2007."
2nd Lt. Eric Neal,
"It particularly entailed how to search a vehicle. Since its tailored around world cup cricket, at the venue, at the stadium, a vehicle entering, maybe a VIP or a regular vehicle, and how do we go about checking the vehicle to ensure that no bombs or any other illegal devices are passed through. We are to check that all persons entering the stadium doesn't have an y illegal articles on them. (There is) crowd control in the event that the entire stadium is sold out that the there is riot outside and responding to any mass casualty in the event that stadium collapses to effectively and quickly respond to situations to save lives and prevent further injuries."
The Trade Winds exercise was held in collaboration with the United States Southern Command.
