Members of the Armed Forces of Ecuador visit with senior leaders of the Kentucky National Guard, Kentucky Emergency Management and Lexington Fire Department at the Lexington Fire Training Academy in Lexington, Ky., on Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024. (Ryan C. Hermens, Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — Senior-level members of the Ecuadorian military visited the Lexington Fire Department’s training academy Thursday to tour the facility and learn about the department’s natural disaster response and equipment.
The visit was part of the Ecuador military’s visit with the Kentucky National Guard. The Kentucky National Guard is partnered with the Armed Forces of Ecuador through the State Partnership Program, which connects states and countries from around the world.
The purpose of the program is to support defense security goals of the countries involved and exchange knowledge, experience and culture. Maj. Gen. Haldane Lamberton with the Kentucky National Guard said the partnership is unique and mutually beneficial.
“There’s no necessarily one right way to conduct military operations,” Lamberton said. “We learn from the military in Ecuador, they learn how we do things and it works out terrifically well for an integrated dynamic of sharing information and capabilities and just our own experience.”
Kentucky has been partnered with the coastal South American country through the State Partnership Program since 1996, which is one of the oldest relationships in the program.
Kentucky is also partners with the African country of Djibouti, a relationship that was founded in 2015.
The Kentucky National Guard said it engages with the Ecuadorian military several times every year. During this week’s visit to Kentucky, the Ecuadorian military members toured the Boone National Guard Center, visited the Capitol to meet Gov. Andy Beshear, and learned about the Lexington Fire Department’s natural disaster response and equipment. The group will get to fly in Black Hawk helicopters over Eastern Kentucky to survey flood-damaged areas.
While in Lexington, the group saw the Lexington Fire Department’s rescue truck and watercraft. Jaime Patricio Vela Erazo, chief of the Joint Command of the Ecuadorian Armed Forces, said the military doesn’t have a rescue truck in Ecuador and was impressed with its capabilities.
“I do like and enjoy the capabilities that they have here in the event that there’s natural disasters,” Erazo said through a translator, Sgt. Maj. Naarah Stallard with the Kentucky National Guard. “It’s the same attitude that we have that helps our communities in their country and in my country.”
The State Partnership Program consists of 88 partnerships with 100 countries around the world. It started in 1991 and is administered by the National Guard Bureau.
Erazo said the military structure in Ecuador is similar to the United States, with the military force’s two main responsibilities being homeland security and providing assistance to communities who suffer from natural disasters.
“It’s basically the same structurally in their country and ours,” Erazo said. “Like Gen. Lamberton mentioned, we can benefit from learning from each other in shared experiences.”
Ecuador’s military has faced more unique challenges in recent weeks, as severe gang violence within the country has prompted the armed forces to work with the national police to conduct raids.
The conflict within Ecuador was largely prompted by a gang leader’s escape from prison, according to multiple media reports.
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