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	Panamanian President Meets With SOUTHCOM, Interagency Leadership
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        <h1 class="title">Panamanian President Meets With SOUTHCOM, Interagency Leadership</h1>
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            <img src="https://media.defense.gov/2019/Jan/07/2002077258/1920/1080/0/190104-N-NJ416-008.JPG"
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                 alt="President of Panama Juan Carlos Varela and staff are welcomed to Naval Air Station Key West’s Boca Chica Field by NAS Key West Commanding Officer Capt. Bobby Baker."
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            <div class="image-title">Panamanian President Meets With SOUTHCOM, Interagency Leadership</div>
            <div class="image-caption">KEY WEST, FL (Jan. 4, 2019) President of Panama Juan Carlos Varela and staff are welcomed to Naval Air Station Key West’s Boca Chica Field by NAS Key West Commanding Officer Capt. Bobby Baker. Varela was in Key West to visit Joint Interagency Task Force South to learn about the command’s mission of conducting detection and monitoring operations throughout their Joint Operating Area to facilitate the interdiction of illicit trafficking in support of national and partner nation security. Naval Air Station Key West is the state-of-the-art facility for combat fighter aircraft of all military services, provides world-class pierside support to U.S. and foreign naval vessels, and is the premier training center for surface and subsurface military operations. (U.S. Navy photo by MC3(SW/AW/IW/SCW) Arnesia McIntyre)</div>
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                 alt="Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela speaks during his visit to JIATF South. This visit was hosted by Navy Adm. Craig Faller, Commander of U.S. Southern Command, and Coast Guard Rear Adm. Pat DeQuattro, JIATF South Director."
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            <div class="image-title">Panamanian President Meets With SOUTHCOM, Interagency Leadership</div>
            <div class="image-caption">KEY WEST, FL (Jan. 4, 2019) Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela speaks during his visit to JIATF South. This visit was hosted by Navy Adm. Craig Faller, Commander of U.S. Southern Command, and Coast Guard Rear Adm. Pat DeQuattro, JIATF South Director. Also pictured is Panamanian Minister of Public Security Jonattan Del Rosario. This visit cemented an already steadfast and long-lasting partnership between the U.S. and Panama that is committed to increasing security for all countries in our region. (U.S. Army photo by Sheri Grabus/released)</div>
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                 alt="Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela rings the JIATF South joint operations center (JOC) floor bell alongside Navy Adm. Craig Faller, Commander of U.S. Southern Command, and Coast Guard Rear Adm. Pat DeQuattro, JIATF South Director."
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            <div class="image-title">Panamanian President Meets With SOUTHCOM, Interagency Leadership</div>
            <div class="image-caption">KEY WEST, FL (Jan. 4, 2019) Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela rings the JIATF South joint operations center (JOC) floor bell alongside Navy Adm. Craig Faller, Commander of U.S. Southern Command, and Coast Guard Rear Adm. Pat DeQuattro, JIATF South Director. Ringing of the JOC floor bell marks a recent drug seizure by our law enforcement partners. This visit cemented an already steadfast and long-lasting partnership between the U.S. and Panama that is committed to increasing security for all countries in our region. (U.S. Army photo by Sheri Grabus/released)</div>
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                 alt="Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela and U.S. and international leaders in front of a static display of a self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS), located outside JIATF South."
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            <div class="image-title">Panamanian President Meets With SOUTHCOM, Interagency Leadership</div>
            <div class="image-caption">KEY WEST, FL (Jan. 4, 2019) Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela and U.S. and international leaders in front of a static display of a self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS), located outside JIATF South. The JIATF South visit was hosted by Navy Adm. Craig Faller, Commander of U.S. Southern Command, and Coast Guard Rear Adm. Pat DeQuattro, JIATF South Director. Other dignitaries included Ambassador Emanuel Gonzalez Revilla from the Embassy of Panama in the U.S.; Panamanian Minister of Public Security Jonattan Del Rosario; and Sergio de la Peña, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. Department of Defense. This visit cemented an already steadfast and long-lasting partnership between the U.S. and Panama that is committed to increasing security for all countries in our region. (U.S. Army photo by Sheri Grabus/released)</div>
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            <img src="https://media.defense.gov/2019/Jan/07/2002077254/1920/1080/0/190104-A-DH445-1008.JPG"
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                 alt="Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela exchanges gifts with Navy Adm. Craig Faller, Commander of U.S. Southern Command."
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            <div class="image-title">Panamanian President Meets With SOUTHCOM, Interagency Leadership</div>
            <div class="image-caption">KEY WEST, FL (Jan. 4, 2019) Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela exchanges gifts with Navy Adm. Craig Faller, Commander of U.S. Southern Command. The exchange occurred during a visit to JIATF South that was hosted by Adm. Faller and Coast Guard Rear Adm. Pat DeQuattro, JIATF South Director. This visit cemented an already steadfast and long-lasting partnership between the U.S. and Panama that is committed to increasing security for all countries in our region. (U.S. Army photo by Sheri Grabus/released)</div>
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            <img src="https://media.defense.gov/2019/Jan/07/2002077253/1920/1080/0/190104-A-DH445-1001.JPG"
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                 alt="Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela speaks to U.S. and international leaders during a luncheon prior to his JIATF South visit."
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            <div class="image-title">Panamanian President Meets With SOUTHCOM, Interagency Leadership</div>
            <div class="image-caption">KEY WEST, FL (Jan. 4, 2019) Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela speaks to U.S. and international leaders during a luncheon prior to his JIATF South visit. The visit was hosted by Navy Adm. Craig Faller, Commander of U.S. Southern Command, and Coast Guard Rear Adm. Pat DeQuattro, JIATF South Director. Also at the luncheon were Ambassador Emanuel Gonzalez Revilla from the Embassy of Panama in the U.S.; Panamanian Minister of Public Security Jonattan Del Rosario; and Sergio de la Peña, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. Department of Defense. This visit cemented an already steadfast and long-lasting partnership between the U.S. and Panama that is committed to increasing security for all countries in our region. (U.S. Army photo by Sheri Grabus/released)</div>
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    <div> <span class="date">/ Published Jan. 7, 2019</span></div>
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    <p>KEY WEST, Fla. -- Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela traveled to Joint Interagency Task Force – South (JIATF South) in Key West, Florida on Jan. 4 to meet with Admiral Craig Faller, commander of United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), and other SOUTHCOM leaders and partners.   </p>
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<p>The trip, initiated by Panama’s president, was his first trip to JIATF South as Panama’s leader, and provided an opportunity for the first meeting between President Varela and Admiral Faller, who took command of SOUTHCOM in November.</p>
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<p>President Varela was able to see firsthand how JIATF South coordinates with interagency and international partners to illuminate transnational organized crime networks and support interdiction and apprehension by U.S. and partner nation law enforcement agencies. </p>
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<p>The multinational, interagency organization conducts detection and monitoring operations throughout their joint operating area to facilitate the interdiction of illicit trafficking in support of national and partner nation security. In 1999, JIATF South, originally located in Panama, was merged with JIATF East to form the agency that exists today.</p>
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<p>“The relationship between Panama and JIATF South has stood the test of time. We’re here today because relationships only get better and stronger by working together, as evidenced by our daily collaboration at JIATF South and years of co-hosting Panamax, our largest multinational exercise,” Faller said.</p>
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<p>President Varela was eager to visit the facility where a Panamanian officer is one of 25 military officers from 20 partner nations who serve on the team. Each country provides valuable contributions and shares in the successes of countering transnational crime and strengthening regional security. </p>
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<p>“There’s a change in the security of citizens as a result of the increase in narcotics-trafficking groups competing for distribution networks,” the Panamanian president said, describing the concern shared by countries working together to counter the threat. “A 60,000-hectare increased coca production (in the region) is affecting all our countries. The efforts of JIATF South are critical for our countries, which are unaccustomed to confronting such sophisticated and well-armed criminal networks.”  </p>
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<p>This is President Varela’s first trip of the year, and signifies the strength of the bilateral relationship between the U.S. and Panama.</p>
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<p>SOUTHCOM is one of the nation’s six geographically-focused unified commands with responsibility for U.S. military operations and security cooperation in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.</p>
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