Pentagon Chief Spokesperson Dana W. White provided the following readout:
Secretary of Defense James N. Mattis met with Colombia Minister of Defense Guillermo Botero August 17 in Bogota to reaffirm the long-standing defense relationship between United States and Colombia.
The leaders discussed a broad range of defense issues, and the secretary thanked the minister for his country’s regional leadership role as a security exporter.
The secretary also thanked Colombia for its work regionally to denounce undemocratic actions — especially those in Venezuela and Nicaragua.
The leaders agreed to work together to achieve mutual strategic objectives to address regional challenges.