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Viewing cable 07BOGOTA6487, USNS COMFORT VISIT TO COLOMBIA

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07BOGOTA6487 2007-09-05 22:12 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Bogota
VZCZCXYZ0008
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBO #6487/01 2482212
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 052212Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8599
INFO RUEHBE/AMEMBASSY BELMOPAN 0023
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 7727
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 9283
RUEHGE/AMEMBASSY GEORGETOWN 0709
RUEHGT/AMEMBASSY GUATEMALA 2274
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ SEP LIMA 5360
RUEHMU/AMEMBASSY MANAGUA 2049
RUEHZP/AMEMBASSY PANAMA 0593
RUEHPO/AMEMBASSY PARAMARIBO 0118
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE 0660
RUEHSP/AMEMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN 0199
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 5961
RUEHSN/AMEMBASSY SAN SALVADOR 1754
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL 4053
RHMFISS/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
UNCLAS BOGOTA 006487 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL MARR MASS MOPS SNAR PTER CO
SUBJECT: USNS COMFORT VISIT TO COLOMBIA 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  USNS COMFORT anchored near Buenaventura, Colombia 
from August 22-28 during its humanitarian assistance deployment to 
the region.  Coordinating with Embassy Bogota, Colombian 
authorities, and NGOs, the COMFORT team provided 25,815 medical, 
dental and veterinary services and training to local citizens, 
health care providers, university students, and medical clinics. 
Colombian government and military officials at all levels toured the 
ship and its operations ashore.  The can-do attitude of COMFORT and 
its U.S. and Colombian partners on the ground overcame many 
logistical and weather hurdles.  As a result, the ship received 
unanimously positive press coverage in the national and local media, 
with the USG portrayed as a positive and helpful ally in Colombia. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
2. (SBU) The US Military Group in Bogota, Joint Task-Force Bravo, 
and the Embassy's Public Affairs (PAS) and Political sections worked 
closely with COMFORT in coordinating with Colombia's MFA, MOD, 
Ministry of Health, and other local institutions to provide 
humanitarian assistance to the people of Colombia. 
 
3. (SBU) Medical services provided included treatment of 6,597 
patients, including 101 surgeries, 733 dental exams, 467 dental 
varnishes, 4,050 immunizations, 2,046 eye exams, the distribution of 
1,605 eyeglasses, and dispensed 8,404 drugs from the ship's 
pharmacy.  COMFORT taught 1,316 students about environmental health, 
infectious disease control, and other public-health issues in 26 
sessions.  Colombians primarily received COMFORT's services aboard 
the ship, in the city's coliseum in Buenaventura, at a naval base at 
Bahia Malaga, and at the river community of La Sierpe. 
Additionally, PAS organized a program with Buenaventura's university 
students, characterized by an energetic, positive exchange between 
the USG and the Colombian people.  The U.S. Navy Show Band bolstered 
the event with a lively performance for the university students and 
entertained thousands of patients during two hugely popular concerts 
held on August 23 as part of as part of Embassy's Education and 
Cultural Day. 
 
4.  (SBU) The Naval Construction Battalion embarked aboard COMFORT, 
known as the Seabees, built a multi-purpose medical clinic for the 
impoverished people of La Sierpe and renovated parts of 
Buenaventura's medical clinics.  Project Handclasp donated medical 
supplies worth well over $10,000 to the people of Buenaventura. 
Preventative medicine physicians and technicians also provided 
veterinary services to local farmers and animal owners, including 
vaccinations of livestock, as well as education and training to 
prevent future disease and worm infestations.  Colombians benefited 
from 25,815 encounters from the COMFORT team, including medical and 
dental services, surgeries, examinations, procedures, vaccinations 
and prescriptions, as well as medical services provided by Project 
Hope volunteers. 
 
5. (SBU) USNS COMFORT's visit drew participation from senior 
officials of the Colombian national and local governments, 
contributing to the Embassy's efforts to win support from the people 
of Buenaventura, an area of substantial drug trafficking and FARC 
terrorist activities.  On August 26, Colombian Minister of Defense 
Juan Manuel Santos toured the ship along with Admiral Guillermo 
Barrera, Commander of the Colombian Navy.  On August 27, a group of 
distinguished visitors, including General Freddy Padilla the 
Commander of the Colombian Armed Forces, William Farrel the Canadian 
Charge d'Affaires, and Colombian Health Ministry officials, toured 
the ship with the Embassy's then Charge d'Affaires, Brian Nichols. 
Both groups also visited COMFORT's main treatment facility ashore at 
the city's coliseum and enjoyed extensive, positive media coverage. 
 
 
6. (SBU) The Embassy's original press strategy complied with 
COMFORT's desire to limit press tours of the ship to one day so that 
the ship could devote its resources to medical services.  However, 
due to dangerous weather conditions, the media could not board the 
ship on the designated Media Day, August 24.  The ship and the 
Embassy's public affairs officers adapted and arranged for 24 
members of the press to board COMFORT over the following three days, 
resulting in 34 television broadcasts, 20 news articles (15 in major 
newspapers, 2 on-line, and 3 in news magazines), and 13 radio 
broadcasts; PAS expects the publication of more major weekly 
magazine articles over the coming weeks.  The broadcasts and 
articles thus far have been universally positive, previously unheard 
of in Colombia's often negative media environment.  COMFORT agreed 
to bring two members of the media to the ship by helicopter to 
accompany the Commodore to the shore for the opening ceremony on 
August 22.  The reporters shot video and stills of the ship on the 
flight out to COMFORT, interviewed some of the leadership, and 
covered the inauguration ceremony itself.  PAS also convinced 
COMFORT to dedicate one of its two helicopters to transport media in 
order to cover the Distinguished Visitors tours of the ship.  The 
overall successful interagency partnership resulted from having PAS 
staff both aboard ship and co-located in the U.S. MILGROUP's 
operations center on the ground in Buenaventura.  In each instance, 
the media provided substantial national coverage which could not 
have happened without close coordination with COMFORT.  The ship's 
unofficial motto, Semper Gumby, accurately reflects their ability 
and willingness to always remain flexible and successfully adapt to 
changing circumstances. 
 
7.  (U) Television coverage included 34 national and regional 
newscasts.  The press dedicated considerable time to human interest 
stories, including one in which COMFORT operated on a child allowing 
him to walk.  The child's mother called COMFORT's visit "like a gift 
from God."  Many other broadcasts spoke of cooperation and 
friendship between the two countries.  PAS also nurtured its working 
relationships with regional press, especially the Afro-Colombian 
journalists including TelePacifico, a major television station. 
 
8.  (SBU) The logistics and weather issues encountered in Colombia 
cannot be overstated.  Due to Buenaventura's shallow harbor and 
COMFORT's deep draft, the ship had to anchor 20 nautical miles from 
the city's center.  This distance complicated the movement of 
COMFORT's personnel and supplies, necessitating the significant use 
of boats and helicopters in order to move the COMFORT team to its 
various sites in Buenaventura, Bahia Malaga, and La Sierpe.  This 
reduced the number of services COMFORT could have otherwise 
provided.  Many members of COMFORT, including personnel from the 
U.S. Navy, Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Public Health Service, 
Canadian forces, and the NGO Project Hope, endured daily, and 
sometimes dangerous, one-hour boat rides each way, oftentimes in the 
rain and heavy-seas.  The unanimously positive media coverage 
demonstrates that the COMFORT leadership and crew deserve high 
praise for successfully adapting so well to the distant anchorage, 
severe weather, and complicated logistics. 
 
BROWNFIELD