OPCW holds training exercises for Mexico, Central American countries

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) trained a group of 31 first responders from Central America and Mexico during a sub-regional exercise held May 16-20.

The exercise trained the attendees on responses to chemical warfare agents and incidents with toxic industrial chemicals. Participants of the final exercise include first responders from Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Paraguay.

“Mexico’s contribution to this endeavor, which aims to enhance the protective capacity of Member States of the System for Central American Integration (SICA) and Mexico, against chemical warfare agents and incidents with toxic industrial chemicals,” Antonio Vazquez del Mercado, coordinator of the Mexican National Authority to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), said.

The exercise occurred after a full cycle of training lessons that started with a basic course held in El Salvador in 2013. The basic course was completed with the support of SICA. Advanced training was then conducted in Costa Rica in 2014 and a table-top exercise was organized in Honduras last year. Though not a member of SICA, Mexican officials accepted OPCW’s invitation and joined the sub-regional project in 2015.

The exercises were conducted with the support of the National Directorate of Civil Protection of Mexico and were jointly run by the OPCW’s Technical Secretariat and the Civil Protection and Firefighter Unit of the State of Jalisco.