On April 29, representatives from the Mexican National Defense College (Colegio de Defensa Nacional – CODENAL) and Naval War College (Centro de Estudios Superiores Navales – CESNAV) visited the Perry Center for a joint organizational overview and academic exchange. Both CDN and CESNAV conduct annual visits to the Center, but this year marks the first ever joint visit for the institutions. The group was headed by CDN Director Major General Guillermo Almazán Bertotto, CDN Sub-Director Brigadier General Cruz Eduardo Vega Rivera, and Director of CESNAV’s Center for Advanced Naval Studies Rear Admiral Rosendo Jesús Escalante Ilizaliturri. The 104-person delegation included senior military leaders, service college staff, and students. This trip to the United States also included visits to USNORTHCOM headquarters in Colorado Springs, CO, USSOUTHCOM headquarters in Miami, FL, and the Inter-American Defense College in Washington, DC.

Perry Center Acting Director Ken LaPlante welcomed the group, followed by Dean of Academic Affairs Dr. Luis Bitencourt’s organizational briefing. The delegation also attended lectures and discussion on strategic leadership (Prof. Carlos Ospina, Perry Center), the role of think tanks in US security policy (Chris Wilson, Mexico Institute, Wilson Center), perspectives on US-Mexico security relations (Chris Wilson and Clare Ribando Seelke, Latin America Specialist with the Congressional Research Service), US defense policy (Jay Cope, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at NDU), and US drug policy (LTC Javier Cardona, Office of National Drug Control Policy, White House).