San Juan, Aug 28 – The Government of Guyana reported this Sunday that the head of the US Southern Command, General Laura Jane Richardson, will visit the country this Monday for various official matters.
Among the reasons for Richardson’s visit to the South American country are meeting with senior government and defense officials of Guyana and discussing their bilateral security collaboration, as explained by the Guyanese government in a press release.
During her two days in Georgetown, the capital of Guyana, Richardson will have meetings with the president of the South American country, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, and with the commanding officer of the Guyana Defense Forces, Brigadier Godfrey Bess.
The US embassy stressed that Guyana and the United States have longstanding security cooperation.
In addition, the defense collaboration between both countries includes collaboration against any regional threat and challenge, capacity building exercises, bilateral training, exchange of experiences and events that promote the inclusion of women in defense and security missions.
Richardson will also take advantage of her visit to Guyana to participate in the Conference on Security, Peace and Caribbean Women, which the Caribbean country will organize from this Monday to next Wednesday in collaboration with the Florida National Guard (USA).
The American official will accompany the first lady of Guyana, Arya Ali, and the Guyanese ambassador to the United States, Sarah-Ann Lynch, to receive the participants of the Caribbean event.
Richardson’s visit to Guyana is her first to the South American country in ten months, during which time she has been head of the US Southern Command, and five months after meeting with Caribbean public security and defense leaders during the Security Conference of Caribbean Nations in Barbados.
The United States Southern Command is one of the six dependencies of the US Department of Defense responsible for cooperating for security, defense and public security forces in the Caribbean, Central America and South America.