South America to Slam US-Colombia Base Deal August 25, 2009
Posted by rogerhollander in Colombia, Latin America, Venezuela.Tags: alan garcia, Alvaro Uribe, Colombia, colombia military, hillary clinton, Hugo Chavez, Latin America, latin america politics, lula da silva, plan colombia, south america, U.S. imperialism, u.s. military bases, UNASUR, Venezuela
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SAO PAULO – South American presidents are expected to slam a US plan to use military bases in Colombia when they gather for a summit in Argentina at the end of the week specifically to discuss the issue.
The anti-US leaders of Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia have already vociferously criticized the announcement that Washington wanted to expand its military presence in Colombia to access seven bases.
![[Colombians fill up a motorbike with smuggled gasoline in Cucuta, Colombia, on the border with Venezuela. In Venezuela the price of oil is 50 times cheaper than in Colombia, and due to the crisis between both countries, Colombians started smuggling along the border. Venezuela will not renew a recently-expired deal that provided Colombia gasoline at cut-rate prices. (AFP photo)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/columbia-2.jpg "columbia-2.jpg")
Colombians fill up a motorbike with smuggled gasoline in Cucuta, Colombia, on the border with Venezuela. In Venezuela the price of oil is 50 times cheaper than in Colombia, and due to the crisis between both countries, Colombians started smuggling along the border. Venezuela will not renew a recently-expired deal that provided Colombia gasoline at cut-rate prices. (AFP photo)The more moderate presidents heading up Brazil, Chile and Argentina have likewise expressed concern at the decision, first announced last month by Bogota.
The Union of South American Nations (Unasur) summit in the Argentine ski resort of Bariloche on Friday is to examine claims by Venezuela President Hugo Chavez that the increased US deployment could be used to invade his country.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is to attend, after having snubbed the previous Unasur meeting in Ecuador early this month because of regional friction over the deal.
Ahead of that last meeting, Uribe embarked on a tour of South America to speak to leaders one-on-one about the bases deal, but failed to win any support except from Peruvian President Alan Garcia.
US officials say that, while the deal on the bases was finalized this month, the agreement with Colombia has yet been signed.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she expected to ink the accord soon.
She also insisted that the beefed-up US military presence was exclusively aimed at “narco-traffickers, terrorists, and other illegal armed groups in Colombia.”
But Chavez on Sunday charged that “they are turning all of Colombia into a (US) base.”
He said in his weekly broadcast he had a document that showed the US military intended to operate unhindered “in strategic areas” — which he interpreted as including the Orinoco Delta in eastern Venezuela and Brazil’s northern Amazon basin.
The US aim was to “dominate South America and act freely across the continent,” he alleged.
Brazil’s defense minister, Nelson Jobim, was to travel to Colombia on Tuesday to talk over the bases decision with his counterpart, Gabriel Silva Lujan.
On Monday, he met with Ecuadorian Defense Minister Javier Ponce. Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim also met with Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Fander Falconi.
Falconi said Colombia had requested that several agenda items be discussed in conjunction with the bases issue at Friday’s summit, including other military deals in South America.
That latter point could touch on Venezuela’s recent purchases of billions of dollars of Russian weaponry, including sophisticated fighter jets and tanks, and Brazil’s deal with France to buy five submarines, one of which will be outfitted as a nuclear-powered vessel. Brazil is also poised to buy 36 new fighter aircraft from France, the United States or Sweden.
“There are no off-limit subjects at the meeting,” Falconi said.
“We think that all aspects linked to security in the region need to be tackled by the presidents. It’s not about accusing anybody, only holding transparent dialogue with the aim of strengthening regional unity,” he said.
Unasur groups Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guayana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Last week, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged US President Barack Obama to attend a Unasur summit to hear the grievances.
Obama said only he would “look at possibilities” and would next meet with Lula on September 24-25, at a G20 summit in Pittsburgh, in the US state of Pennsylvania.
Under a current cap exercised by the US Congress, the number of US citizens deployed to bases in Colombia cannot exceed 800 uniformed and 600 civilian personnel.
The US daily The Washington Post claimed in an editorial on Monday that Chavez was stirring up trouble over the bases to distract attention from his alleged support of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a rebel organization deemed a “terrorist” group by Washington.
The newspaper, which has good sources in US defense and political circles, asserted that giving the US military access to seven bases in Colombia was an “unremarkable” expansion of existing US operations in the country.
© 2009 Agence France Presse
Unlike most of the talking heads, Ive actually visited both countries and spoken with people on the ground; and if you think the FARC are a bunch of socialist freedom fighters; then you are sadly mistaken. They make the IRA look like a bunch of boy-scouts, have no real agenda (aisde from making money) any more; and have far more in common with the Taliban or Al-Quada than anyone else.
Ask anyone who lived in Colombia 7+ years ago (when the FARC had almost free reign) what it was like, and the tales will shock you…
Kidnappings, extortions, death-threats, murders and bombings of churches (or anyone else who resisted them) – it was that bad.
This is the organisation that your ‘glorious socialist Latin Americian Prezident Chavez’ supports.
And before you tell me ‘oh, but he’s for democracy’, answer me why he controls almost the entire Venezualan press, and why he ruthlessly attacks his political opponents; and why the middle-classes are deserting Venezuala in droves…
but Chavez has finally overplayed his hand…
leading to this move by Uribe…
After openly giving protection – both physical, intelligence and both military protection and more recently military arms to the FARC (which is currently the worst terror organisation in Latin Americia) is looks like Colobmbia’s patience has finallly run out…
Look at the facts :-
1. Chavez was found to have had close financial dealings with the FARC. Look at evidence from the recovered laptop from the Colombian raid, which has been internationally substantiated.
2. Chavez’s own military are apparently providing military protection to FARC / drug targets inside Venezuala; as reported by investigators on the ground.
3. Chavez has ordered -masses- of arms in recent years, submarines, aircraft, tanks, missiles – arms that have no use but for power projection against his far weaker neighbours. (who have small air-forces primarily targetted against insurgents, and no armour at all). This is also well documented.
4. Chavez was recently found selling arms (and not just some of the 100,000 AK’s they are purchasing, but ground to air missiles!) to the FARC.
He admitted as much that he was guilty of it in a press conference (claiming that ‘they were’nt the latest models anyway!).
5. Chavez almost went to war with Colombia for attacking a FARC base, just over the Veneuzualan border.
6. Chavez has recently cut much trade with Colombia, removing any real incentive on both parties for closer relations.
In short, while I’m not really in favour of US bases expanding universally, and why I would also like the Colombian oil to be nationalised (the one good thing that Chavez did, imho), I think in this case there was little choice.
The massive US military aid to Colombia has dramatically helped Colombia’s situation – just look at the crime rates and you’ll get the picture.
However Chavez’s threats of war against his neighbours have unerved them; they realise they have little power to prevent his attack (although the lines of communication for his launching such an attack are poor), and hence this recent move; hoping to prevent any future Chavez adventures…
QED