DTN News: Colombia TODAY August 17, 2009 ~ Colombia-US Base Accord Reached

DTN News: Colombia TODAY August 17, 2009 ~ Colombia-US Base Accord Reached *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) BOGOTA, Colombia - August 17, 2009: Colombia says it has completed talks with Washington on allowing US troops to use seven of its military bases. Under the deal, the US military will be able to operate on Colombian soil to tackle drug-trafficking and terrorism. The United States maintains a complex web of military facilities and functions in Latin America and the Caribbean, what the U.S. Southern Command (known as SouthCom) calls its "theater architecture." U.S. military facilities represent tangible commitments to an ineffective supply-side drug war and to underlying policy priorities, including ensuring access to strategic resources, especially oil. Much of this web is being woven through Plan Colombia, a massive, primarily military program to eradicate coca plants and to combat armed groups (mostly leftist guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia). In the last five years, new U.S. bases and military access agreements have proliferated in Latin America, constituting a decentralization of the U.S. military presence in the region. This decentralization is Washington's way of maintaining a broad military foothold while accommodating regional leaders' reluctance to host large U.S. military bases or complexes. A number of South American countries have condemned the plan and Argentina has said the bases are "not helpful". Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has expressed fears the move would amount to preparation for an invasion of his country by US forces. Colombia's foreign ministry said that Bogota had agreed the text of the deal with the US. "This agreement reaffirms the commitment of both parties in the fight against drug-trafficking and terrorism," the ministry said in a statement. The deal will now be reviewed in both countries before being signed. 'Climate of unease' Last week, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe visited several of his South American neighbours to try to calm fears over the proposed deal with Washington. On Monday, South American leaders at a regional summit had reiterated concerns over the deal. Mr Chavez warned that "the winds of war were beginning to blow" across the region. The Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, called for a meeting between US President Barack Obama and the region's leaders, saying the "climate of unease disturbs me". Washington wants to use Colombia as a regional hub for operations to counter drug-trafficking and terrorism. The US has been forced to look for a new base for such operations after Ecuador refused to renew the lease on its Manta base, which the US military was using.