On May 7, the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB), with the support of the Inter-American Defense Foundation (FID), held an extraordinary virtual meeting of the IADB Council of Delegates on “Military Challenges in Times of Crisis,” to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and the implications for the Armed Forces and Security Forces in the Western Hemisphere.
Approximately 110 participants attended the virtual meeting, including the following: Mr. Sergio de la Peña, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs, United States Department of Defense; Mrs. Farah Urrutia, Secretary of Multidimensional Security of the Organization of American States (OAS); Director Eloi Ritter Filho, Deputy Representative of Brazil to the OAS; Brigadier General Hugo Roberto Urbina Marroquín, Chief of the National Defense Cabinet of Guatemala; Brigadier General (Air Force) Marco Aurélio Martins Gabriel, Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Brazilian Cyber Defense Command; Colonel Francisco Palomo Pérez, Chief of Operations of the Spanish Cyber Defense Command; Colonel Juan José Montiel Maldonado, Head of the Civil Protection Subsection and Operations Section of the General Staff of the Secretariat of National Defense of Mexico; Dr. Martin Trevino, member of the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Defense Foundation; Professor Celina Realuyo, William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies at the National Defense University; Mr. Marc Asturias, Vice President of Marketing, Communications, Public Relations and Government Affairs of Fortinet, In addition to the Inter-American Defense College, the Delegates of the member countries of the Council of Delegates and the Observer Countries of the IADB.
