19 October Miami Herald - Southcom Chief Stresses Ideas, Not Missiles by Carol Rosenberg.

Even before Adm. James G. Stavridis takes charge of U.S. military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean this morning, the new Southern Command chief has been making plans for travel and engagement in what he sees as a battle of ideas, not missiles and bombs, in the Western Hemisphere.

In a wide-ranging interview prior to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's arrival in town to pin a fourth star on his senior aide, the veteran Navy officer said:

• There is still some wiggle room for a military relationship with Venezuela, despite chilled relations with President Hugo Chávez.

• He is going to keep watch on the Guantánamo Bay detention center for terrorist suspects to make sure it's run in ``a legal and transparent fashion.''

• He's also watching Fidel and Raúl Castro's side of Cuba for a potential U.S. military humanitarian role in any future rafter crisis.

• He is not overly concerned by Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere...

With no U.S. forces shooting in the hemisphere and a patchwork of security agreements and drug interdiction operations, the job of Southcom chief has long been quasi-diplomatic -- a uniformed U.S. envoy promoting democracy in the at-times troubled nations of Latin America and the Caribbean....