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Brazil, Chile join dispute over US troops in Colombia
A plan to increase the number of US troops in Colombia is drawing opposition, not just from left-wing populist leaders in the region, but from the moderate governments of Brazil and Chile as well.
- Reuters
- Published: 22:31 August 4, 2009
Bogota: A plan to increase the number of US troops in Colombia is drawing opposition, not just from left-wing populist leaders in the region, but from the moderate governments of Brazil and Chile as well.
The mounting criticism threatens to isolate Colombia from its neighbours as it seeks help from the United States to combat drug-running guerrillas and cocaine cartels.
President Alvaro Uribe will tour South America this week to try to ease concerns about the upcoming military pact.
Colombia, Washington's main ally in the region, says the deal is aimed at strengthening anti-drug efforts.
The United States is in talks with Uribe's government about relocating US drug interdiction flight operations to Colombia after being kicked out of neighbouring Ecuador. Colombia expects to sign a deal this month after a final round of talks in Washington.
The plan is expected to increase the number of US troops in Colombia above the current total of less than 300, but not above 800, the maximum permitted under an existing military pact, officials said.
Leftist Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez accuses the United States of setting up a military platform in Colombia from which to "attack" its neighbours.
Chavez allies in Ecuador, Bolivia and Nicaragua were quick to blast the plan as well. But Colombia was shocked late last week when Chile, a model of free-market policies, and regional heavyweight Brazil voiced concern about the deal as well.
"I don't like the idea of an American base in the region," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said.
Uribe will start to meet with Lula, Chile's President Michelle Bachelet and other South American leaders starting from yesterday. His toughest critics, Venezuela and Ecuador, are not on his itinerary.
Bachelet called the Colombia-US talks "disquieting" and said the proposal should be discussed at the August 10 meeting of the South American Unasur group of nations. But Uribe and his foreign minister do not plan to attend the summit.
The meeting will be held in Ecuador, which has broken off diplomatic relations with Colombia over a 2008 bombing raid targeting Colombian rebels who were camped out on Ecuador's side of the border.
Ecuador and other socialist governments in the region are deepening economic ties with Russia, China and Iran, while denouncing Uribe for his ties to US "imperialists."
"Colombia is increasingly isolated from its neighbours," Bogota-based security analyst Armando Borrero said. "This has a snowball effect in that it makes the government even more reliant on Washington," Borrero added.
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