First conceived in 1959, UNITAS, or Unity, is a maritime training exercise bringing together naval forces from across Latin America, the United States, and France. This year, Navy SEALs on the exercise built closer ties with their Colombian special ops counterparts.
U.S. Special Forces has also been in Colombia since at least 1966 when Green Berets began training their military in airborne infantry tactics. In the 1970s and 80s, these training deployments greatly increased, and then in the 1990s the US-Colombian special ops partnership helped defeat the Medellin and Cali cartels.
“UNITAS provided a unique opportunity to work with SOCSOUTH aligned special operations forces in the region, to advance our skills and train toward contingency operations,” a SEAL officer leading this year's UNITAS exercise stated. “Working alongside our partner nations adds another degree of interoperability while demonstrating to our allies why we remain the partner of choice in the SOUTHCOM AOR, and sends a message of a united Western Hemisphere.”
Left unsaid is how the United States assisted Colombia in defeating the narco-terrorist group called the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and how the recent election of the left-leaning President Gustavo Petro concerns some American policymakers that the country could backslide into violence.
The Bush administration gave billions in security assistance, including military training and equipment under Plan Colombia in the early 2000s. The US government provided surveillance overflights as well as guided munitions to the Colombians, which led to the killing of FARC leader Raul Reyes in nearby Ecuador.
Special Operations assistance then continued as the US and Colombian governments sought to free three American contractors being held hostage in austere jungle prison camps by the FARC.
In 2010 FARC leader Mono Jojoy was killed and in 2011 their political leader Alfonso Cano was also killed. FARC signed a peace deal with the Colombian government in 2016 and the organization became defunct, although several thousand guerrillas returned to the jungle to continue their insurgency.
UNITAS and other exercises and exchanges provide an opportunity for the US SOF community to maintain long-term sustained engagement with their Colombian partners, rather than pull up stakes and leave as America has done in other parts of the world.
“When I assumed office as the 78th Secretary of the Navy in August of 2021, I made enhancing strategic partnerships one of our Department’s top enduring priorities,” Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro explained.