ORANJESTAD - The Aruban and Curaçaoan military personnel (CARMIL) are training this week on Aruba together with the Mobile Unit (ME) of the Aruba Police Force (KPA) and the K9 unit of the KIA (Correctional Institute Aruba). The exercise focuses on de-escalation actions, during civil unrest, also known as ("Beteugelen van Woelingen" (BVW), Curbing unrest, and prepares the Caribbean military and security partners for responding to disturbances of public order.
Training took place both at Marine Barracks Savaneta and elsewhere over the past few days. On Thursday, April 23, the final scenario of the exercise will take place in the ‘old Esso village’ named Seroe Colorado. In a realistic scenario, the Governor of Aruba is confronted by a group of demonstrators seeking redress from the mayor of a village. As the situation threatens to escalate, military assistance is called in in the form of a platoon of soldiers. The exercise consists of various sub-scenarios in which tensions between demonstrators and authorities escalated. During these scenarios, Caribbean troops are confronted with increasing violence. Central to this final exercise is de-escalation performance and cooperation with local security partners.
Riot Suppression Platoons (BVW)
As a relevant security partner for providing military assistance on Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and the BES islands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba), CZMCARIB has two trained ‘riot suppression’ trained platoons at its disposal. These units are fully staffed by CARMIL personnel and are deployable to support public order and safety. Both Curaçao and Aruba have their own BVW platoon and regularly practice various scenarios. Thanks to these types of exercises, Caribbean troops remain prepared for diverse scenarios in the event of public order disturbances.