The Pentagon's bases in Colombia

[IndianaGreen]

The Pentagon's bases in Colombia

Zach Mason explains how aggressive moves by the U.S. in Latin America are ratcheting up the conflict between Colombia and Venezuela.

November 24, 2009

RECURRING TENSIONS between neighboring South American countries Venezuela and Colombia have reached new heights in recent weeks.

The current conflict centers around the October 30 signing of a military pact between Colombia and the U.S. that gives the American armed forces the use of seven military bases in Colombia, and grants immunity to U.S. soldiers operating in there.

Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and President Barack Obama claim that the U.S. military presence in Colombia will serve only to combat narco-traffickers and leftist guerillas, not threaten Colombia's neighbors. Yet as the Venezuelanalysis.com Web site reports, this claim "is contradicted by the 2010 fiscal year budget of the U.S. Air Force Military Construction Program, which states that...the pact 'provides a unique opportunity for full-spectrum operations in a critical sub-region of our hemisphere' and 'supports mobility missions by providing access to the entire continent.'"

What's more, the agreement on military bases follows the reactivation of the U.S. Navy's Fourth Fleet, historically used by Washington to intimidate and attack countries that challenge its agenda in the Caribbean and Latin America.

For years, the U.S. has pumped money and weapons into Colombia and sent military advisers there in the name of fighting "narco-terrorism." As a wave of left or center-left governments have been elected in Latin America, military aid to Colombia has swelled, making it the third-largest recipient of U.S. military aid in the world.

http://socialistworker.org/2009/11/24/pentagon-bases-in-colombia