Adjutant General of Puerto Rico visits Republic of Honduras

"This official visit, along with the continued military exchanges of Citizen-Soldiers with our Honduran partners, reinforces the strong
relationship, friendship and mutual collaboration between our nations," said
Carcana.

For more than 18 years Honduras and Puerto Rico have made numerous military
exchanges with experts in the various fields including preventing and fighting fires, engineering, logistics, medical, emergency management and leadership
development through workshops and other events.

"We appreciate the opportunity to receive this military delegation from Puerto Rico, where we reaffirm our ties of friendship and brotherhood for benefit of the Honduran people," said Col. David Arriaga Sellan Orellana, Commander of Institutional National Response Force of Honduras.

During the four-day visit, Maj. Gen. Carcana had the opportunity to meet with various officials of the Honduran military to continue fostering the growth and development of the Puerto Rico National Guard's State Partnership Program with this Central American country. Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen of the PRNG have participated in visits and exchanges for almost 20 years with
Honduras, which formally became an SPP partner in 1998.

Maj. Gen. Carcana held meetings and visits with officers of the American Embassy, the Honduran Army and Navy, Emergency Management personnel, as well as leaders currently assigned to Joint Task Force Bravo at Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras. While at the base, Carcana visited Puerto Rico National Guard Citizen-Soldiers currently deployed at this location conducting a security mission. For more than decade Puerto Rican National Guardsmen have
conducted multiple rotations to provide security to Soto Cano Air Base.

The State Partnership Program is a part of the Department of Defense, under the National Guard Bureau, located in Washington D.C. This program was established in 1993 to unite National Guard states and territories with the Armed Forces of other countries, aiming to expand and strengthen defense cooperation and military relations among nations.

Currently, there are 70 partnerships among US states and territories with countries around the world. Of which, there are 27 associations among countries in the Caribbean, Central and South America.