NEWS AND POLICY
Colombian Defense Minister visits USNS COMFORT in Buenaventura and Highlights Humanitarian Day
On Sunday August 26, Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos toured the USNS COMFORT, anchored off the shores of the Pacific Coast of Buenaventura, Colombia. In a ceremony held onboard Minister Santos said, “I would simply like to tell our North American friends how grateful we are on behalf of the Colombian people and Government, but above all, on behalf of the thousands who benefited from this humanitarian task, so efficient, effective and necessary. Its presence, here and now, is greatly satisfactory to us all. That is why I am here today, in person, to thank this gesture of friendship, cooperation, and ever great relationship between the U.S. and Colombia. It’s a humanitarian task of great importance. Over 6,300 Colombians have had the opportunity to be seen and tended to.
Bob Kapcio, COMFORT’S mission commander, presented Defense Minister Santos with a commemorative plaque on the occasion of his visit to the ship. He later indicated the importance of exercising the mission in Buenaventura facing key obstacles: “Weather has been quite a challenge.”
“To guarantee a successful trip” he added, “the United States brought along two military helicopters from Honduras just to support this Mission. Now, instead of just our two helicopters, we have four. There are two more just to help transport people back and forth. In addition, to recover the time lost during the fist few days, I’ve authorized the extension of our mission for one more day than initially scheduled, to make sure we do everything we can for the people of Buenaventura. We’ll try and make the best of the time we have. We’ve postponed our date of entry to the Panama Canal, so we can have one more day in Colombia.”
At the end of the ceremony Commander Kapcio gave Minister Santos a personalized tour of the ship, visited patients and doctors, and expressed his pleasure on this wonderful example of bilateral cooperation and friendship
Bogota D.C., August 27 2007