Commander of U.S. Southern Command to visit Guyana

Aug 29, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – U.S. Army General, Laura Richardson, Commander of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), is expected to visit Guyana today to meet with Government and defense leaders for talks on the bilateral security partnership between the United States and Guyana.

U.S. Army General, Laura Richardson

The US official is expected to return home on Wednesday.

Richardson is visiting Guyana ten months after assuming duties as SOUTHCOM’s Commander and nearly five months after meeting with Caribbean defense and public-security leaders during the 2022 Caribbean Nations Security Conference in April in Bridgetown, Barbados, the US Embassy here said in a release. During her two-day stay in Georgetown, she will meet with U.S. Ambassador to Guyana Sarah-Ann Lynch, President of Guyana, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, and Guyana Defence Forces (GDF) Chief of Staff, Brigadier Godfrey Bess. Richardson will also join Guyana’s First Lady Arya Ali and Ambassador Lynch in welcoming participants of the Caribbean Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Conference, which Guyana will host August 29-September 1 in partnership with the Florida National Guard.

The United States and Guyana have a longstanding history of security cooperation. The defense partnership between the two countries includes collaboration against regional threats and challenges, capacity-building exercises, bilateral training, expertise exchanges, events fostering the inclusion of women in defense and security missions, and professional development engagements. SOUTHCOM is one of the Department of Defense’s six geographically focused unified commands with responsibility for security cooperation with defense and public-security forces in the Caribbean, Central America and South America.