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HomeAboutHistorySOUTHCOM's 60th Anniversary

 

# 60 Years of Service

 

Our history goes back to World War II when the former U.S. Caribbean Defense Command was created to defend the Panama Canal.  In the 1950's the command's mission evolved to include security cooperation in Central and South America.  The command was re-designated U.S. Southern Command on June 11, 1963.

 

 

 

## SOUTHCOM's 60th Anniversary

# 60 Years of Service

# Our history goes back to World War II when the former U.S. Caribbean Defense Command was created to defend the Panama Canal.  In the 1950's the command's mission evolved to include security cooperation in Central and South America.  The command was re-designated U.S. Southern Command on June 11, 1963.

 

Overview of SOUTHCOM History

1963 - 1979

1981 - 2000

2001 - Present

Historical SOUTHCOM photos

Colombian riverine operations, 1999.  The U.S. government supported Colombian state-building effort through Plan Colombia.  (Source: U.S. Southern Command)

The Maxwell R. Thurman Building, Miami-Doral, Florida.  Headquarters, U.S. Southern Command, moved into the Thurman Building in 1997.  General Thurman served as Commander, U.S. Southern Command, during Operation Just Cause.  (Source: U.S. Southern Command)

U.S. counterdrug operations in the Caribbean, circa 2000.  U.S. Southern Command involvement in counter illicit trafficking began in 1983.  In 1989, the George Bush administration (1989-93) asked the U.S. military to detect and monitor illicit aerial and maritime shipments to the United States.  (Source: U.S. Southern Command)

A boarding team from Coast Guard Cutter FORWARD, approaches a vessel containing 380 Haitian migrants in the Windward Passage, April 23, 2004.  FORWARD's crew was able to safely remove and repatriate all 380 migrants back to Haiti.  DoD photo by 3rd Class Public Affairs Specialist Donnie Brzuska, U.S. Coast Guard. (Released)

Opening ceremony for the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH in 2004.

The Commander of the El Salvadorian Coalition Military Assistance Team (CIMIC) gives interview to a camera crew from a local Iraqi TV station during a ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the completion of CIMIC project to build a small bridge in Babil Province, Iraq, on July 8, 2005.  (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Arthur Hamilton) (Released)

Outgoing Commander, U.S. Southern Command, General Bantz Craddock (2004-2006) and incoming Commander, Admiral James Stavridis (2006-2009), at the change-of-command ceremony, Miami-Doral, October 2006.  Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pacer (center) served as Commander, U.S. Southern Command, from 2000 to 2001.  (Source: U.S. Southern Command)

U.S. Army Soldiers during Operation Just Cause, December 1989 in Panama. U.S. military forces toppled Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, a wanted drug trafficker, during the operation.  (Source: U.S. Southern Command)

The Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal under construction, January 1912.  A major engineering achievement, the construction of the Panama Canal, opened in 1914, created new lines of commerce, communication, and defense.  It occupied a central place in U.S. global strategy during the twentieth century.  (Source: Panama Canal Company, NARA)

President Truman addresses the Fourth Meeting of Foreign Ministers of American States, Washington, April 1951.  The international meeting produced major changes in U.S.-Latin American military relations.  Later that year, the U.S. Congress created the Military Assistance Program to improve inter-American military readiness.  (Source: U.S. Information Agency, NARA)

A U.S. military adviser instructs students on the use of engineering equipment, Bolivia, July 1963.  During World War II and the early Cold War, U.S. military efforts in Latin American concentrated on conventional security matters.  Around 1960, the U.S. military focus shifted toward civic action and counterinsurgency programs.  (Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps, NARA)

U.S. Soldiers provide aid in the Dominican Republic, 1965.

Soldiers of 1st Battalion, 509th Infantry, parachute from a C-130E Hercules aircraft into a drop zone outside the city to conduct operations in support of Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989.

President Carter, OAS Secretary General Alejandro Orfila, and General Torrijos sign the Panama Canal Treaties in Washington, September 1977. (Source: U.S. Information Agency, NARA)

A Super Entendard aircraft of the Argentine Navy takes part in touch-and-go landings on the flight deck of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) in 1990.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Pinckney (DDG 91) with embarked U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) team conducts enhanced counter narcotics operations, May 14, 2020. The Pinckney and embarked LEDET recovered an estimated 1,400 kilograms of cocaine.  (U.S. Coast Guard photo/Released)

Colombian troops fire a .50-caliber machine gun at an enemy position in central Korea, October 1951.  During the Korean War, the U.S. Caribbean Command supported the Colombian military deployment with training and equipment.  (Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps, NARA)

A U.S. Army AH-1 Cobra helicopter firing its 20mm cannon during a mission in support of Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada in 1983. (DoD photo)

A U.S. Marine Corps Sikorsky CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopter hovers above the ground near a Soviet ZU-23 anti-aircraft weapon prior to picking it up during "Operation Urgent Fury", the U.S. invasion of Grenada in October 1983. (DoD photo)

U.S. Army Rangers parachute into Grenada during Operation Urgent Fury, 1983. (DoD photo)

U.S. Soldiers fire a Howitzer in Grenada during Operation Urgent Fury in 1983.

A U.S. Marine from Delta Co., 2nd Light Armored Infantry Bn. takes a break in the fighting with Panamanian Defense Forces during Operation Just Cause in Dec. 1989.  Official USMC photo by CWO-2 Robert Jenks, USMC (Ret.)

U.S. Marines stand guard in Panama during Operation Just Cause, December 1989.  U.S. military forces toppled Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, a wanted drug trafficker, during the operation.  (Source: U.S. Southern Command)

U.S. military forces deliver supplies in Central America following Hurricane Mitch, 1998.  The U.S. Southern Command deployed 5,400 personnel during its post-hurricane relief effort.  (Source: U.S. Southern Command)

U.S. Air Force musicians perform at the 2nd Aeronautical and Space Exposition, Buenos Aires, Argentina, October 1972. (Source: U.S. Air Force, NARA)

The hospital ship USNS Comfort passes through the Panama Canal, July 1988. (Source: Department of Defense, NARA)

:  The entrance to the Air Force Village, Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, September 1989.  The Joint Chiefs of Staff created Joint Task Force 11—later renamed Joint Task Force-Bravo—in 1983 to support and control U.S. forces in Central America.  (Source: U.S. Air Force, NARA)

U.S. Army personnel deliver water to flood victims at San Pedro Sula, Honduras, October 1954.  From its inception, the U.S. Caribbean Command undertook humanitarian operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.  (Source: Department of Defense, NARA)

U.S. troops in Panama prepare for a tactical airdrop during a joint military training exercise, May 1955.  U.S. planners used the exercise to test U.S. defenses of the canal against conventional military attack.

Members of the 7th Battalion, Honduran Army, gather for a briefing, 7th Special Forces Group, U.S. Army, during a bilateral training exercise, June 1984.  (Source: Department of Defense, NARA)

Soldiers from the 16th Infantry Battalion, Honduran Army, operate a mortar for members of the 82nd Airborne Division during a Task Force Dragon/Gold Pheasant exercise, March 1988.  President Ronald Reagan (1981-89) deployed U.S. forces to Central America, a Cold War battlefield during the 1980s.  (Source: Department of Defense, NARA)

President Jimmy Carter (1977-1981), Rosalynn Carter, and Lieutenant General Dennis P. McAuliffe, Commander, U.S. Southern Command (1975-79), at Ft. Clayton, June 1978.  Carter had signed the Panama Canal treaties in 1977 whereby the United States would transfer the canal and adjacent sites to Panama by December 1999—and provide for the defense of the waterway during the twenty-first century.  As the senior U.S. military official in Panama, General McAuliffe played a major part in the U.S.-Panamanian negotiations.  (Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps, NARA)

U.S. Southern Command headquarters, 2023.

Drug bust in the Eastern Pacific in 2012.

Lieutenant General Matthew Bunker Ridgway, Commander, U.S. Caribbean Command (1948-49), talks with Vice Admiral Juan M. Carranza, Chief of Naval Operations, Argentina, on his visit to Quarry Heights, July 1948.  During 1940s, General Ridgway was a key architect of the modern inter-American military system.  (Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps, NARA)

From right, U.S. Air Force Gen. Douglas Fraser, commander of U.S. Southern Command, and Army Lt. Gen. P.K. "Ken" Keen, commander of Joint Task Force Haiti, visit with Brazilian Cmdr. Carlos Chagas, of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 19, 2010. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Laura A. Moore, U.S. Navy/Released)

Earthquake victims in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, await continued relief efforts from U.S. service members as well as military personnel from other countries Jan. 21, 2010. U.S. Department of Defense assets have been deployed to assist in the Haiti relief effort following a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck the country Jan. 12, 2010. (DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III/Released)

Combat controllers from the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., talk to aircraft circling the Toussaint L'Ouverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 23, 2010

An aerial view shows Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, January 23, 2010.  Aircraft from all over the world fly in and out to drop off humanitarian aid and transport people out of the Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck the country Jan. 12, 2010. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Desiree N. Palacios)

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Tyler Woodard, assigned to the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5), swings beside a Haitian girl at the Heart to Heart orphanage in Grand Goave, Haiti, Feb. 1, 2010. (DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Samantha Robinett, U.S. Navy/Released)

U.S. Marines and Sailors of Combat Logistics Battalion 24, 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, off-load three Haitian patients from a MH-60 helicopter, Feb. 5, 2010. The patients were transported from the USNS Comfort. (DoD Photo)

Army and Navy divers drill guide holes into a damaged section of pier. U.S. military divers helped repair the main seaport of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as part of the humanitarian and disaster relief to Haiti. (DoD Photo)

(2010) A U.S. Marine Corps corporal works with UN Peacekeepers in Haiti.

A UN Peacekeeper from Uruguay provides security at a food distribution point in Haiti in 2010.

Doctors perform surgery on USNS Comfort during earthquake relief efforts in Haiti in 2010. The U.S. military deployed over 22,000 personnel to Haiti to save lives and mitigate suffering following an earthquake on 12 January.  (Source: U.S. Southern Command)

A UN peacekeeper from Brazil talks to children in Haiti in 2010. The U.S. military deployed over 22,000 personnel to Haiti to save lives and mitigate suffering following an earthquake on 12 January.  (Source: U.S. Southern Command)

U.S. soldiers distribute relief aid during Operation Just Cause in Panama - December, 1989.

A U.S. soldier stands guard outside a Panamanian military headquarters during Operation Just Cause. (1989)

U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt (1933-45) and Panamanian President Juan Demóstenes Arosemena (1936-1939) aboard a ferry crossing the Panama Canal, August 1938.  During the 1930s, the Roosevelt administration embraced the Good Neighbor Policy toward Latin America and the Caribbean.  The diplomatic initiative helped the United States development constructive military-to-military relations with key Latin American partners.  (Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps, NARA)

U.S. Army Chief of Staff General William C. Westmoreland, former commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam, visits the U.S. Army Jungle Operations Training Center, Fort Clayton, September 1968.  During the Vietnam War, many U.S. forces trained in Panama before deploying to Southeast Asia.  (Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps, NARA)

A U.S. commercial vessel moves through the Gatún Locks, February 1969.  (Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps, NARA)

Army Gen. William B. Rosson visiting the Jungle Warfare School in Panama. Rosson was commander of U.S. Southern Command at the time. (1973)

A U.S. submarine, with tender ship USS Severn, passes through the Gatun Locks in April 15, 1914.  (Source: U.S. Marine Corps, NARA)

International observers patrol the border between Ecuador and Peru, circa 1996. With international partners, U.S. Southern Command verified the implementation of a ceasefire agreement following the 1995 border conflict. (Source: U.S. Army South)

A CH-47 transport helicopter delivers medical supplies to U.S. forces during a training exercise near Tamara, Honduras, March 1988. (Source: Office of the Secretary of Defense, NARA)

The combat stores ship USS Concord arrives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the twenty-fifth annual UNITAS naval training exercise, July 1984. (Source: Department of the Defense, NARA)

Robert M. Montague Hall, Quarry Heights, Panama, circa 1980.  The building housed Headquarters, U.S. Caribbean Command, and Headquarters, U.S. Southern Command, 1958 to 1997.

Robert M. Montague Hall, Quarry Heights, Panama, circa 1980.  The building housed Headquarters, U.S. Caribbean Command, and Headquarters, U.S. Southern Command, 1958 to 1997.  Lieutenant General Montague, Commander, U.S. Caribbean Command, oversaw the construction of the building; he died in Panama in February 1958, approximately four weeks before the dedication of the facility.  (Source: U.S. Southern Command)

Colombian military cadets on an obstacle course outside Bogotá, April 1967.  (Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps, NARA)

A Nicaraguan soldier studies crane operations with a U.S. instructor, November 1973. (Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps, NARA)

U.S. soldiers demonstrate to Venezuelan military personnel how to move with a litter up the side of a mountain during para-rescue training near Caracas. (1973)

A U.S. Army medic examines a Panamanian boy during a medical training exercise in Panama, April 1974. (Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps, NARA)

Members of the 601st Medical Co. and the Guardia Nacional take part in a refresher class on helicopter medical evacuations, near Maje, Panama. (1974)

President Ronald Reagan talks with Dominican Republic Prime Minister Eugenia Charles during a meeting on the situation in Grenada (1983)

Soldier and Students: American students at St. George University on Grenada surround a U.S. Soldier after his arrival at the campus with peacekeeping forces. (1983)

A soldier from the 82nd Airborne Division confers with Eastern Caribbean troops of the Multinational Security Force, Grenada, November 1983. (Source: U.S. Information Agency, NARA)

U.S. infantrymen carry ammunition to a machine gun position, Panama, October 1942.  (Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps, NARA)

Honduran soldiers, the first troops of the Inter-American Peace Force, arrive to assume peacekeeping duties in the Dominican Republic, 1965. (Source: U.S. Information Agency, NARA)

Uruguayan naval gunners train with U.S. forces in the Chesapeake Bay, 1955.  (Source: Department of the Navy, NARA)

Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney and Commander, U.S. Southern Command, General Maxwell Thurman (1989-90) review U.S. operations in Panama, 25 December 1989. (Source: Department of Defense, NARA)

A soldier of the Mobile Training Team, U.S. Special Forces, uses an AN/PRC-10 radio to keep in touch with other members of the patrol during a training exercise with forces in the Dominican Republic. (1971)

Brazilian soldiers in the Dominican Republic, May 1965. (Source: U.S. Information Agency, NARA)

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service

SOUTHCOM Celebrates 60 Years of Service