The highest authorities of the Forces visited the Naval River Area to supervise the joint and interagency exercise “Candú 2025”, carried out by the Armed and Security Forces, in the Buenos Aires towns of Zárate and Lima.
The Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces, Brigadier General Xavier Julián Isaac, was accompanied by the heads of the Navy, Vice Admiral Carlos María Allievi; of the Army, Major General Carlos Alberto Presti; of the Air Force, Brigadier General Gustavo Javier Valverde, and by the Secretary of Strategy and Military Affairs, Marcelo Rosas Garay.
The authorities were received by the Commander of the Rapid Deployment Force of the Argentine Army, Brigadier General Sergio Jurczyszyn, together with the Commander of the Naval River Area and Chief of the Zárate Naval Base, Rear Admiral Daniel Francisco Finardi, and the Municipal Mayor of Zárate, Marcelo Matzkin.
The day began with a presentation at the command post, where reference was made to the guidelines on which the planning was based and the objectives imposed for the joint exercises, which involved the deployment of means, materials and more than 700 troops in the different scenarios used.
In the presence of Ariel Chesini, Deputy Manager of Security, and Hernán Ricagni, Head of the Emergency Department of the Atucha Nuclear Power Plant, they explained the exercise with a hypothetical situation of enemy incursion, recovery of facilities and evacuation of hostages in the first security ring of the plant.
The delegation began the operational tour at the military dock of the Zárate Naval Base. The Commander of the River Patrol Division (DVPF), Frigate Captain Raúl Adrián Mercado, received them aboard the patrol boat ARA “King”; there he explained the role of the naval units under his charge and the different functions they fulfilled during the exercise.
In this regard, he stated that the multipurpose ARA “Ciudad de Zárate”, the patrol boats ARA “Río Santiago” and ARA “Punta Mogotes”, units dependent on the DVPF, together with the ARA “Ciudad de Ensenada” and ARA “Berisso” training boats for cadets of the Naval Military Academy, had the mission of transferring troops, small boats and providing river support.
Then, they went to the sanitary tents where the Medical Frigate Captain Esteban Ariel Salcedo, presented the stages of evacuation of the recovered personnel, the passage through the triage area and the transfer to the Field Hospital to receive primary care. Likewise, a demonstration of Chemical, Biological, Nuclear and Radiological (QBNR) decontamination was carried out to the operators who intervened in the maneuver.
It should be noted that the Naval River Area Command performs these procedures in the face of contingencies of similar characteristics as part of the Civil Protection tasks.
Then, they moved by helicopter to the objectives located in the town of Lima. At the facilities of the Fishing Club, they witnessed together with the Commander of the Tactical Divers Group (APBT), Frigate Captain Rodrigo Acuña Guinder, in his role as representative of the Special Naval Operations Forces, the recovery of a “person of interest”.
To fulfill the ordered mission, a naval assault force was formed in a riverside environment, made up of members of the APBT, the Army and the National Gendarmerie, and helicopters and surface means were used to infiltrate the assault force.
Next, they went by land to the scenarios located in the vicinity of the Delta Dock Port Terminal, to observe together with the Commander of the Marine Infantry Battalion No. 3, Frigate Captain Sergio Martín Tabares, the operation of control of the riverside area and river security with fire support boats, MK3 boats and troops deployed at strategic points.
Finally, the delegation went to the Atucha Nuclear Power Plant where they were received by the President of Nucleoeléctrica Argentina, Alberto Lamagna, who expressed his gratitude for the military deployment, within the framework of an exercise to protect facilities considered of strategic value.
In concluding words, Brigadier General Sergio Jurczyszyn thanked the joint and interagency actions, which allowed us to show excellent operational capabilities, with all the Forces working together and with the same objective. In the same vein, Rear Admiral Finardi said: “Each of the forces operated in a professional manner and their actions were visualized in the different scenarios, representing the conjuntes.”