Defense and public-security planners from the Caribbean, Central America, North America, and Europe will meet March 21-25, 2022, in Belmopan to discuss final planning details for Tradewinds 2022, an annual, multi-national and multi-domain exercise. This week’s meeting is the third and final planning conference in preparation for the exercise.
Belize and Mexico will co-host this year’s Tradewinds from May 7-21, with Belize hosting land activities and Mexico holding naval exercise activities. This year’s Tradewinds will mark the fifth time Belize has hosted the exercise (1998, 2007, 2010, and 2015), and it will be Mexico’s first time co-hosting since the first Tradewinds launched in 1984. In 2020, the exercise was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
U.S. Southern Command sponsors Tradewinds, a Caribbean-focused regional security exercise in which participating forces hone their skills during land, air, sea, and cybersecurity scenarios requiring a coordinated response.
Twenty nations will join the United States, Belize, and Mexico in this year’s Tradewinds exercise, and more than 1,500 uniformed and civilian personnel will participate.
Nations invited to participate are Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, France, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, the Netherlands, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United Kingdom.
The exercise objectives include expanding the region’s capacity to mitigate, plan for, and respond to crises; strengthening partnerships; increasing readiness; and promoting human rights and adherence to internationally recognized laws and agreements.
Exercise activities will focus on interoperability, riverine operations, maritime security, air operations, ground operations, cyber defense, dive operations, medical operations, and the integration of women in peace and security missions.
U.S. participants will include Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard, and special operations personnel. Additionally, National Guard forces from Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia will also participate.
