New row over Colombia-US accord

[Judi Lynn]

Page last updated at 02:25 GMT, Thursday, 5 November 2009
New row over Colombia-US accord

Colombian opposition groups have reacted angrily after details of a controversial military deal with the US were made public. Under the 10-year deal, the US military will not only have access to military bases, but also be able to use major international civilian airports. US personnel and defence contractors will also enjoy diplomatic immunity.

President Alvaro Uribe says the agreement will help rid Colombia of drugs gangs and left-wing rebel groups. But leading opposition senator Gustavo Petro, of the left-wing PDA party, said the deal amounted to a virtual US occupation of Colombia.

The accord was signed last Friday but full details were only made public on Tuesday. They reveal that the US military will have access to seven Colombian army, navy and air force bases and also be able to use civilian airports under conditions that have still not been made clear.

Colombia's military commander, Gen Freddy Padilla, was quoted by national media as saying that the benefits of the agreement will be felt throughout the country as the US conducts anti-drug and anti-terrorist missions.

More:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8343692.stm

[Downwinder]

1. Over there, over there,

Send the word, send the word over there--
That the Yanks are coming,
The Yanks are coming,

[rabs]

2. Pentagon and Southern Command must be happy

Free use of three air force bases, two army bases and two navy bases ...

... plus, international airports.

- Aeropuerto Internacional El Dorado - Bogotá
- Aeropuerto Gustavo Rojas Pinilla - Isla de San Andrés
- Aeropuerto Internacional Ernesto Cortissoz - Barranquilla
- Aeropuerto Internacional Rafael Núñez - Cartagena de Indias
- Aeropuerto Internacional José María Córdova - Medellín
- Aeropuerto Internacional Alfonso Bonilla Aragón - Cali
- Aeropuerto Internacional Palonegro - Bucaramanga
- Aeropuerto Internacional Matecaña - Pereira
- Aeropuerto Internacional El Edén - Armenia
- Aeropuerto Internacional Alfredo Vásquez Cobo - Leticia

There was an article in El Tiempo on Tuesday about this. The reasoning for the use of international airports was that large military planes can be refueled, be checked and be maintained with the equipment used on regular civilian jetliners at those airports.

The one at Leticia is interesting because Leticia is right on the border with Brazil and not far from the Peruvian frontier. Leticia is on the north bank of the Amazon River.

[Braulio]

3. i read the agreement and...

it just says US military personnel will have designated major international airports where they can come into the country. This section describes the types of documents they need to have, who requires a visa, what type of visa must be issued to their relatives, how many days they can stay without a work permit, and other routine details. It's no big deal.

[Peace Patriot]

4. "No big deal"? Colombia is outsourcing its death squad needs, for murdering

union leaders, small peasant farmers, human rights workers, journalists, community organizers and political leftists, to the US military--to start with, 600 US soldiers and 600 US mercenaries, who will be immune from Colombian laws.

Nope, no big deal.

And, funny thing, that this is happening just when courageous prosectors and judges in Colombia (who live constant death threats) are starting to make headway in holding the nacro-thugs who run Colombia and their notorious military accountable for the thousands of murders that have already been committed. That won't be a problem for the murders committed by US soldiers and Blackwater. Colombian justice will not be able to touch them, and individuals will just be "cycled" out if things become too "hot."

I have said it before, and I will say it again, this is looking more and more like South Vietnam to me--a corrupt, fascist US puppet government fronting for US aggression.

"Just a few hundred 'advisors'...".

Your comment "no big deal" is hauntingly reminiscent of how they lied us into war in Vietnam. I said, on this board, about two years ago, that we were going to see our children used as 'cannon fodder' for Exxon Mobil in the jungles of the Amazon and the mountains of the Andes by the end of the decade. People called it "tinfoil." We are almost there--it is almost 2010. And it has begun.

Listen to the silence. No big deal. Just a few hundred US soldiers (and mercenaries) to help our "friends" murder the "communists."

Union leaders, small peasant farmers, human rights workers, community organizers, journalists, political leftists--that's who is being killed by the Colombian military and its death squads--killed by the thousands, in an horrendous bloodbath that has been condemned by every human rights group on earth. And now the US will be joining in, beyond the reach of Colombian prosecutors.

Ah, me! This is so bad.

[Braulio]

5. No big deal

The new agreement was precipitated by Ecuador's shutting down of the Manta base to the Americans. The number of soldiers allowed under the agreement is EXACTLY the same as under the previous, existing deal. The only difference is they're allowed to use MORE bases. In a sense, this is a tit for tat signal to Chavez that if he presses the USA in one area, the USA will pop up harder wherever it feels it's convenient. If Chavez keeps screwing around, they may just put a base in Aruba and Guayana, just to tickle his nose.

As for the US soldier function, it's limited to intelligence gathering. And this is what scares the heck out of the FARC (and Chavez by inference). The USA will be taking Predator drones to Colombia, and these will allow very close monitoring of FARC bases, which can then be destroyed from the air followed by clean up by helicopter-borne troops. This technological approach to counterinsurgency has been highly evolved in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the US military wants to work out the bugs in Colombia. They'll be using infrared, night vision, ground radar, pheronome sniffers, you name it. I think the FARC is toast, 90 % of their personnel isn't fit to serve in a urban guerrilla environment, so they'll probably end up in Venezuela, hiding near the border.

[Zorro]

6. You've nailed it

There are many warmongerers who don't want peace to be brought to the region, and become extremely dismayed by every successful foray against FARC.