Peacekeeping Operations-Americas 2012-1
From April 30 to May 10, the city of Santiago in Chile hosted Peacekeeping Operations-Americas (PKO-A) 2012, a multinational exercise which encourages peacekeeping efforts in Central and South America and the Caribbean.
The Exercise had the participation of 16 countries from Central and South Americas and the Caribbean and was conducted by the Chilean Joint General Staff in cooperation with the U. S. Southern Command.
The Exercise was divided into two distinct phases. The first phase consisted in a leadership seminar which took place at the Peacekeeping Operations Joint Center in Chile (acronym in Portuguese: CECOPAC) and was directed to staff officers, with the aim of disseminating important knowledge concerning multidimensional peacekeeping operations.
The second phase started on May 2 and comprehended the exercise itself. It aimed at the different actors making decisions as they faced virtual simulations in a fictitious country which underwent a peacekeeping operation under the coordination of the UN.
The countries that participated in the military activities were Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Paraguay, Uruguay, El Salvador and Dominican Republic. The countries that contributed with observers were Spain, Mongolia and Indonesia, and the exercise also counted on representatives from the United Nations (UN) and from the Latin American Association of Peacekeeping Training Centers (ALCOPAZ).
