The Minister of National Defense, Javier García, witnessed this Monday the 5th the arrival of the training ship ROU 20, Captain Miranda, on its 23rd instruction trip. The ship, which set sail on Monday, February 7, from the port of Montevideo with 79 crew members, including its commander, Pablo González, visited 16 ports in 12 countries in 210 days. On arrival, Garcia noted that the ship was visited by 140,000 people.
The activity was also attended by the Minister of Tourism, Tabaré Viera; the Undersecretary of Defense, Rivera Elgue, and relatives of members of that force.
García pointed out that this was a particular trip in terms of logistics, as it was the first after the COVID-19 pandemic. The tour was carried out by personnel from the General Command of the Navy, made up of the staff, the crew and 30 midshipmen who graduated in 2019, 2020 and 2021 from the Naval School. Since the delegation was very large, the trip was divided into two stages.
The minister considered Captain Miranda an ambassador of the country and stressed that an example of this is that 140,000 people, leaders and delegations of different nationalities, have visited him in seven months, who got to know a part of the country. In addition, he believed that for the promotions, which graduate after traveling and doing the practice, it is the same as for a doctor to go to a hospital.
The ship sailed in jurisdictional waters of Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Colombia, Mexico, the United States, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico. It traveled 19,480 nautical miles in 129 days and spent 81 days in ports, including Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Fortaleza, Mar del Plata, Punta Arenas, Valparaíso, Callao, Guayaquil, Balboa, Cartagena de Indias, Santo Domingo, Curazao, Veracruz, Mayport, Limon and San Juan.