On July 28, Colombia’s Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, David Rene Moreno Moreno, was the keynote speaker at the opening of the 5th CHDS Sub-Regional Conference (SRC), this time on “Defense and Security Challenges in a Complex Environment: Prospects for Cooperation and Divergence in South America,” held in the historic city of Cartagena.

In his prepared remarks, Moreno noted the enormous progress that President Alvaro Uribe’s democratic security program government brought to his country in just seven years. Moreno emphasized the fact that the government’s legitimacy was strengthened by a policy of zero tolerance for human rights violations. “No army in the world facing a narco-terrorist threat has done so much in such a short time in the area of human rights training,” Moreno said. “When necessary, drastic, effective and timely action has been taken to address potential rights violations.”

The SRC, co-sponsored by the Colombian Ministry of Defense and supported by the Colombian Navy, was the first conducted by CHDS with a new academic methodology and organizational structure. People from three continents, the Americas and Europe, and 19 countries attended the conference.

Latin Americanist Joseph Tulchin and Ambassador Jeffrey Davidow were among the special guests who spoke at the event.