The Diplomat
The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, traveled yesterday to Latvia to congratulate the Spanish troops stationed at the Adazi Military Base, in the framework of the Enhance Forward Presence (eFP) mission deployed by NATO to ensure security on the Eastern flank of Europe.
“Wherever it is, in Spain vaccinating at this moment, here in Latvia or in Senegal, where there is a Spanish soldier there will be the best that can be had: humanity, efficiency, professionalism and commitment to peace in the world”, the minister affirmed before the approximately 350 soldiers of the Army assigned to the mission.
“The Spanish Armed Forces are the best in the world and they are the best in the world thanks to you and your families,” Robles continued. “I have nothing but words of pride, satisfaction and gratitude and I know that the whole of Spain is with me,” added the minister, quoted in a press release from the Ministry.
For his part, Defense Chief of Staff, Teodoro López Calderón, referred to the harsh weather conditions, with temperatures of 20 degrees below zero, that they are facing. “They have reiterated to us what we already knew, that the Spanish soldier is tough and is capable of acting in any type of conditions and circumstances, no matter how hard they may be,” said López Calderón, who thanked the soldiers “for how high you hold the flag in these lands where they still do not know us well enough.” For that reason, Robles proposed that an open day or coexistence be held so that the local people can get to know “the great work that our contingent does here”.
In addition to the JEMAD, Robles was accompanied by the Secretary of State, Esperanza Casteleiro, and by the commander of the Operations Command, Air Lieutenant General Francisco Braco. The Spanish ambassador to Latvia, Susana Cámara, welcomed them upon their arrival at Riga International Airport.
Spain has been deployed since June 2017 in the Latvian eFP mission, led by Canada and involving forces from eight other nations: Albania, Czech Republic, Iceland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Italy, Montenegro and Poland. Spain is the second largest contributor to the multinational mission, with nearly a thousand military personnel, behind only Canada. The current rotation is the ninth and is made up of 80% members of the Extremadura XI Brigade, based in Badajoz. This contingent was deployed last July and will be relieved in January by the Guzmán el Bueno X Brigade, based in Cordoba.
The eFP mission is a ground presence of a defensive and deterrent nature, multinational, interoperable and with the capacity to deploy in the Baltic countries and Poland. Four Battle Groups have been deployed since 2016, supporting the Armed Forces of the host countries: Estonia, Latvia (the largest, with ten participating countries), Lithuania and Poland.
