A 43-person delegation from the Colombian Superior War College’s (Escuela Superior de Guerra – ESDEGUE) Advanced Military Studies Course (Curso de Altos Estudios Militares – CAEM), including 34 students, visited the Perry Center today for an academic exchange. ESDEGUE Director MG Javier Antonio Fernandez Leal led the delegation. Following introductory remarks by Acting Director Ken LaPlante and Gen (ret.) Carlos Ospina, several Perry Center faculty members gave presentations: Professor Boris Saavedra, on the evolution of threats in post-conflict Central America; Professor Guillermo Pacheco, on defense policy and its evolution toward internal security; and Academic Dean Luis Bitencourt, on the use of military force in support of internal security missions and other missions.

Notably, the visiting delegation included two former Perry Center visiting faculty members who are also alumni: Colonel Juan Carlos Gómez of the Colombian Air Force and Captain José Ricardo Hurtado of the Colombian Navy. The delegation also included seven other WJPC alumni: Captain Andrés Vasques Villegas; Captain Carlos Gustavo Serrano Álvarez; Colonel José Mauricio Mancera Castaño; Colonel Hernán Alejandro Bustamante Jimenez; Colonel Fabián Laurense Cárdenas Leonel; and Colonel Gonzalo Ricardo Londoño Portela.