ACTING MINISTER OF DEFENSE REQUESTS MEDICAL EVACUATION

UNCLAS SAN SALVADOR 002862 SIPDIS STATE PASS WHA//CEN DESK OFFICER PAUL DEGLER AND PM/ISO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV MARR CA SUBJECT: ACTING MINISTER OF DEFENSE REQUESTS MEDICAL EVACUATION AND TREATMENT OF SALVADORAN MILITARY OFFICER AT U.S. MILITARY TREATMENT FACILITY ¶1. On 19 Oct, Salvadoran Vice Minister of Defense, General Abrego, the acting Minister of Defense, requested U.S. military support in transporting a critically injured Salvadoran Air Force officer, Colonel Juan Hector Reyes, to a U.S. military medical facility as soon as possible. Colonel Reyes was injured in a Salvadoran Air Force helicopter crash on 12 Sep and is currently hospitalized in the Salvadoran military hospital. The attending physician characterizes the injuries as life threatening and provided the following diagnosis: multiple traumas,second and third degree burns on 20 percent of the body surface, renal failure and sepsis throughout his body. ¶2. I strongly recommend U.S. government concurrence with this request Barclay