[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 22, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E57]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      NATIONAL SECURITY CHALLENGES

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 22, 2008

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, the critical national security 
challenges the U.S. faces throughout the Western Hemisphere demand our 
support of strong allies, like Colombia, in the region. The historic 
ties between the U.S. and Colombia have only deepened in recent years 
as our cooperative efforts to surmount security, economic and social 
concerns have intensified.
  With this in mind, I would like to offer my warmest congratulations 
to Captain Hernando Wills on the occasion of his promotion to Rear 
Admiral of the Colombian National Navy.
  The following excerpts from Colombian Ambassador Carolina Barco's 
remarks highlight the significance that Rear Admiral Wills' promotion 
holds for the U.S.-Colombia relationship.

       The relations between the United States and Colombia are 
     not only their oldest in this continent, they also reflect a 
     great understanding between our nations. Our relations 
     encompass important historical events, such as the deployment 
     in 1951 of the frigate Almirante Padilla and the Batallon 
     Colombia to fight for democracy in Korea alongside U.S. 
     Forces. Colombia was the only Latin American country to 
     deploy troops in that multinational force, which cost the 
     lives of 146 countrymen, with 69 missing and 448 wounded in 
     combat. The participation of our soldiers in the peace 
     keeping forces at the Suez Canal in 1956, the deployment of 
     the Batallon Colombia since 1982 with the peace forces in the 
     Sinai Peninsula, and innumerable episodes, give faith to the 
     integration of our peoples under the flags of democracy and 
     respect for human dignity.
       I want to highlight this year as particularly fruitful for 
     the joint work of the Navies of Colombia and the United 
     States: their participation in important exercises such as 
     UNITAS and PANAMAX, the first focused on standardizing 
     procedures among the navies of the hemisphere and to maintain 
     a level of training that will permit a joint defense of this 
     continent, and the second with the purpose of organizing a 
     defense of the Panama Canal.
       Because of the nature of our peoples, military action goes 
     beyond defense, successfully engaging in humanitarian 
     endeavors, such as the deployment of the U.S. Navy's hospital 
     ship Comfort to the Colombian coast providing medical 
     attention to thousands of beneficiaries, and the joint 
     participation of Colombia in the Joint Inter-Agency Task 
     Force South in Key West, and the engagement of Colombian 
     river operations' experts training U.S. Navy personnel for 
     their future responsibilities in Afghanistan.
       For all the aforementioned, the decision of the Colombian 
     Government to promote Captain Hernando Wills to the rank of 
     Rear Admiral is not an isolated event: it compliments the 
     experiences of an inured sailor with the doctrine of National 
     Defense University to defeat narco-terrorism, strengthen 
     democracy, and return to Colombians the possibilities of 
     development in peace, under the mandate of profound respect 
     for human dignity clearly stated in the National 
     Constitution.

                          ____________________