On March 15, to present to the Brazilian Ambassador to Colombia, Paulo Estivallet de Mesquita, and other members of the Diplomatic Corps the demining situation in the country and the activities that the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB) develops in support of this activity , the IADB was represented by the Heads of its missions in Colombia, the Group of Inter-American Monitors (GMI-CO) and the Group of Inter-American Technical Advisors (GATI-CO). Captain (Brazilian Marine) Leonel Mariano da Silva Júnior and Lieutenant-Colonel (Brazilian Army) Rômulo Fabiano Pacheco Ravázio, Heads of the GMI-CO and GATI-CO respectively, presented their activities and other relevant aspects of said humanitarian work.
Present at the Embassy, in addition to the Ambassador, were the Minister Counselor Luís Guilherme Nascentes da Silva, the Defense and Army Attaché, Colonel André Mendonca Siqueira, the Naval Attaché, Captain (Marine) Luiggi Campany de Oliveira, and Felipe Eduardo Liebl, Second Secretary. In addition to the IADB officers, Captain Leandro Calabria Ventura dos Santos, Head of the Mission of Humanitarian Demining Instructors and Advisors in Colombia (MIADH-CO), a Brazilian cooperation, also presented its activities. .
Brazil is a country that contributes significantly with personnel to humanitarian demining support missions in Colombia, since 2006, when such support began. For Ambassador Estivallet, “cooperation in support of demining is one of the most relevant tasks of Brazilian efforts to support peace and security in Colombia.”
The GMI-CO and the GATI-CO have represented the IADB in support of the efforts of the Organization of American States and the Colombian authorities to reduce the effects of antipersonnel mines and improvised devices, which penalize the population of this country by six decades. Currently, the Groups are made up of officers from the Brazilian Navy, Brazilian Army and Mexican Army.
