Obama denies U.S. creating military bases in Colombia

Obama denies U.S. creating military bases in Colombia
5 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Friday denied the United States is planning to set up military bases in Colombia as part of an upgraded security agreement with the South American nation.

"There have been those in the region who have been trying to play this up as part of a traditional anti-Yankee rhetoric. This is not accurate," Obama told Hispanic media reporters.

Leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez -- a persistent critic of Washington -- has said the enhanced U.S.-Colombian security plan could be a step toward war in South America. On Sunday, Chavez called on Obama not to increase the U.S. military presence in Colombia.

~snip~
The new security arrangement would allow the Pentagon to lease access to seven Colombian military bases for U.S. support in fighting drug traffickers and guerrillas involved in the cocaine trade.

The agreement would also increase the number of American troops in Colombia above the current total of less than 300 but not more than 800, the maximum permitted under the existing pact.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090807/wl_nm/us_colombia_usa_bases

not that I am for increased US military presence there. there are those like Chavez and his supporters who prevaricate and say these will be US bases in Colombia.

nevertheless, I was wondering when Obama was going to get in on this. Frankly, its falls more on him to explain to the rational leaders of the hemisphere the strategy than on Uribe.

I suspect Colombia is expecting a quid pro quo with a free trade agreement with the US.

Obama's national security adviser Jim Jones in an interview with O Estado de Sao Paulo two days ago in Brasilia:

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Sabemos, com alguma certeza, que elementos significativos das Farc estão atuando dentro da fronteira da Venezuela e o governo venezuelano não fez muito para combater isto.

We know with some certainty that significant elements of the FARC are acting inside the Venezuelan frontier and (that) the Venezuelan government is not doimg much to combat that.

No entanto, não é aceitável que esses países deixem que suas fronteiras sejam usadas como bases para o ataque a outro país soberano da região. O que ocorre é que os EUA estão ajudando um país amigo, onde a democracia tenta sobreviver.

However, it is not acceptable that those nations allow their frontiers to be used as bases to attack another sovereign nation in the region. What is happening is that the USA is aiding a friendly nation, where democracy is trying to survive.

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Obama today:

"I think Colombia has some legitimate concerns about the FARC operating from over the border. I hope that could be resolved in conversations with its neighbors," Obama said.


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Some days ago a wag told me "Before the Summit of the Americas (early June) Obama's knowledge about South America was limited to the large Mexican community in the south side of Chicago."

and Honduran golpistas operating in Washington,Miami,and Cincinnati.

Leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez -- a persistent critic of Washington -- has said the enhanced U.S.-Colombian security plan could be a step toward war in South America. On Sunday, Chavez called on Obama not to increase the U.S. military presence in Colombia.

Obama said this was a myth.

"We have had a security agreement with Colombia for many years now. We have updated that agreement. We have no intent in establishing a U.S. military base in Colombia," Obama said.

"This is continuation of assistance that we had been providing them. We have no intention of sending large numbers of additional troops into Colombia, and we have every interest in seeing Colombia and its neighbors operate peacefully."

The new security arrangement would allow the Pentagon to lease access to seven Colombian military bases for U.S. support in fighting drug traffickers and guerrillas involved in the cocaine trade.

The agreement would also increase the number of American troops in Colombia above the current total of less than 300 but not more than 800, the maximum permitted under the existing pact.

Colombia has accused Ecuador and Venezuela of assisting Marxist FARC rebels waging a four-decade-old guerrilla war against the Colombian state.

"I think Colombia has some legitimate concerns about the FARC operating from over the border. I hope that could be resolved in conversations with its neighbors," Obama said.

the top ranks of the Colombian government and military involved in the cocaine trade? What a total crock the "war on drugs" is! Uribe himself got his start with the Medelin Cartel (now he's Bush Cartel). And somehow every time they spray toxics on little peasants growing a few coca leaves and food for their families, the peasants are forced to migrate--often into urban squalor--and the big criminal organizations move onto the land--dealing in drugs, weapons and probably humans, or Frankenseeds, biofuels, corpo farm slave labor, and other corpocrap. Chiquita was paying millions of dollars to rightwing paramilitary death squads, to deal with their "labor problem." That's what the "war on drugs" is all about--killing leftists, labor organizers, human rights workers, community activists, journalists and sometimes just kids, lured by promises of jobs, murdered and dressed up like FARC guerrillas, to up the Colombian military body count, in order to impress U.S. senators.

This article misconstrues who is objecting to this dramatically increased U.S. military presence in Colombia. It is not just Chavez. Virtually all of Latin America is alarmed and objecting to this, because they know damn well how much our Corporate Rulers want to smash their democracies to pieces. And it doesn't matter what Obama thinks the limits are--say, in the number of US troops. Once the Pentagon has a foothold, it can escalate at any time, and furthermore provide massive technical and other support for Colombian aggression--including planes and bombs--as they did to Ecuador early last year.

Read that book Chavez gave you, President Obama! Stop fronting for the warmongers! Jeez!

Continental angst . . . a woman wears a mask that reads "Get
out, Uribe" at a protest against the US military presence in
Colombia. Photo: AP

Richard Reynolds in Buenos Aires
August 8, 2009

THE decision by the United States to reactivate a big military presence in Latin America has caused consternation in the continent, stirring memories of its interventionist history in the region.

The head of Colombia's military, General Freddy Padilla, has confirmed the US will open three new US bases in his country and be granted access to four other military facilities, marking the biggest US military build-up on the continent in 40 years.

Army, air force and navy facilities will all potentially have a US military presence by the end of the year. The US has also reconstituted its navy's Fourth Fleet, covering South America, for the first time in 59 years.

On Monday most South American leaders will gather in Ecuador, and the topic of the bases is expected to dominate discussion.

''Obviously history has a role here,'' said Vladimir Torres, a Venezuelan analyst now living in Canada. ''Nobody has forgotten the role the US played in South America in the past.''

Between 1945 and the 1980s the US supported, either directly or behind the scenes, at least 16 coup d'etats in Latin America, which put in place military dictatorships.

The new military push appears at odds with the charm offensive of the US President, Barack Obama, to improve relations with South and Central American countries.

The leaders of Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Venezuela have since condemned the US move to re-establish a military presence on the continent. While some have now backed off their initial harsh rhetoric, discomfort over the US move remains.

''I don't see why we need an American military presence on our continent,'' the Brazilian President, Lula da Silva, said last week.

Both the US and Colombia have been at pains to reassure South American leaders that there is no hidden agenda behind the new bases deal. The US sent the National Security Adviser, James Jones, to Brazil's capital last week to discuss Mr Obama's concerns.

The Colombian President, Alvaro Uribe, the US's only close ally in the region, completed a rapid-fire, seven-nation tour that was to end in Paraguay yesterday to try to persuade South American leaders there was no hidden agenda behind the deal for US bases.

''This is strictly about drug interdiction,'' (Uribe) said. Colombia is indeed the main supplier of cocaine to the US. (Ha, ha! Uribe made his fortune from cocaine!)

The deal with Colombia comes after Ecuador voted to close the US's only sovereign base in the country by the end of the year.

''We still have concerns, but our discussions were constructive,'' said the Argentine President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, after meeting Mr Uribe on Thursday. Bolivia's President, Evo Morales, reportedly told Mr Uribe that he felt threatened by a US military presence. ''We do not accept US troops in Bolivia, and we do not accept them in Latin America.''

The Colombian bases decision also follows the US decision last year to reconstitute its navy's Fourth Fleet, which covers South America. The fleet had been disbanded in 1950, and the decision appears entirely symbolic, as no ships were assigned to the new fleet.

''It was all about some sort of message being sent to Latin America,'' said William Reynolds, a retired Royal Navy vice-admiral. ''Creating a fleet of ships without any ships can only be about sending a message.''

Juan Batista, an Argentine political scientist who has published three books on the US role in Latin America, said US moves to reconstitute an obsolete fleet under president George Bush or the new bases under Mr Obama made no sense.

Given the strained relations between the US and Venezuela, these messages are probably intended for President Hugo Chavez, a US foe. Yet they are also being read in other South American capitals.

''Even those who are positive toward the current US Administration are sceptical about US moves when it comes to our part of the world,'' Mr Batista said. ''We all remember the School of the Americas.''

The infamous school trained many top Latin American military officers who were later involved in coups.

IN AMERICA'S BACKYARD

1954 CIA-backed coup in Guatemala

1961 Failed invasion of Cuba at Bay of Pigs

1962-present US trade embargo on Cuba

1965 US troops land in Dominican Republic

1973 CIA-backed coup in Chile

1980 US supports right-wing junta in El Salvador

1981-90 US-backed Contra rebellion in Nicaragua

1983 US invasion of Granada

1984 CIA mines three Nicaraguan harbours

1989 US troops invade Panama, arrest General Manuel Noriega

1994 US Navy blockades Haiti

2002 US accused of backing a failed coup against Venezuela's Hugo Chavez

http://www.smh.com.au/world/latin-fears-about-us-plans-to-open-bases-in-colombia-20090807-ed0j.html

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(My additions...)

Late 2007: US/Colombian sabotage of Chavez hostage negotiations for release of FARC hostages (which Alvaro Uribe asked him to conduct).

Dec. 1, 2007: Donald Rumsfeld op-ed in the Washington Post, "The Smart Way to Defeat Tyrants Like Chavez" (by "swift U.S. action" in support of (Bushwhack) "friends and allies" in South America).

March 2008: FARC about to release Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages from a temporary FARC camp inside Ecuador's border; the US/Colombia drop ten 500 lb US "smart bombs" on the camp--without notifying the president of Ecuador--slaughtering 25 people in their sleep, and almost starting a war between the US/Colombia and Ecuador/Venezuela.

September 2008: The US funds and organizes white separatist rioters and murderers who try to secede from Bolivia's national government and take Bolivia's main gas and oil reserves with them. President Morales throws the US ambassador out of Bolivia. Chile calls a meeting of the newly formalized South American "common market"--UNASUR--which gives strong backing to Morales, and Chile, Brazil and Argentina and others--with the US out of the picture--help Morales bring calm to Bolivia.

June 2008: The rich oligarchy of the US client state of Honduras drags the elected president, Manuel Zelaya--who had been advocating for the poor majority--out of his bed at gunpoint, flies him out of the country on a plane with blackened windows, declares martial law, shuts down all opposition or neutral TV/radio stations, even roughs up and arrests some AP reporters, and starts using live ammunition on peaceful protesters, killing several people. Zelaya had also proposed converting the US military base in Honduras to a commercial airport. That's pretty much the whole story. The oligarchs and their corpo/fascist pals want slave labor; and the Pentagon wants to keep their "lily pad" country for US aggression in the region.

It is very inaccurate to give the impression that only Chavez objects to this. Most of the leaders are very against it. And it means little or nothing that Cristina Fernandez said their talk was "constructive." That's the word diplomats use when things didn't go well. Fernandez detests Uribe, and was the target of the CIA/Miami mafia "suitcase full of money" plot, to smear her, and was livid about the US/Colombia bombing of Ecuador last year.
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Uruguayan president rejects U.S. military bases in Colombia
2009-08-07 08:49:41

MONTEVIDEO, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez voiced his opposition on Thursday to a pending U.S.-Colombia deal on boosting U.S. military presence in Colombia.

Vazquez expressed his stand while meeting with his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe, said a press release issued by Vazquez's office.

The Uruguayan president "reaffirmed" the long-term stand his country has held "against the existence of the establishment of foreign military bases not only in Paraguay but also in any part of Latin America," it said.

Vazquez also said that there must be the "full observance of the non-intervention principle on internal issues of countries."

Vazquez met Thursday morning with Uribe during the latter's whirlwind seven-nation tour which was designed to head off regional concerns over the pending deal.

Under the pact, Washington could gain access to at least seven Colombian military bases by the year 2019, and in return, Washington would offer Bogota some 5 billion U.S. dollars in aid.***

Though Washington and Bogota have said the plan was designed to strengthen Colombia's anti-drug and anti-rebel efforts, many South American countries have voiced their concerns.

Uribe's tour finished Thursday in Brazil after visiting Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.

A summit of the Union of South American Nations slated for next Monday is expected to discuss the issue, and Bolivian President Evo Morales said he would call on his counterparts in the region to reject the U.S.-Colombia pact.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/07/content_11839950.htm

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x20773

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***(This is so pathetic! The only way the US military can get into a country--besides, of course, bombing the shit out of its civilian population, slaughtering a hundred thousand people in one week, in a country with no air force--is by bribery using our tax dollars! FIVE BILLION of them! We have money for this? I thought we were broke--no money for schools, running out of unemployment, Social Security going bankrupt, blah, blah, blah. But to arm Colombia--a country with one of the worst human rights records on earth--and pave the way for our global corporate predators, we have plenty of money! Lordy, lordy, this is making me so mad!)

why do you always seek to cut down Obama?

that I think he is a good man--a man with quite good intentions--in a very difficult position, with very little power to implement them. Why I think that is so I won't go into here. But you are very mistaken to say that recognizing the perils of the presidency is "cutting down Obama." If I had known what the CIA did to JFK in the "Bay of Pigs"--basically tried to blackmail him into providing US military support, for which he fired the CIA director--I would have said the same thing about JFK. He only had three years as president, not enough time to get control of the military (which was undermining him in serious ways), and the CIA and the rest of the secret government. It is not "cutting him down" to acknowledge the forces arrayed against him. We have not had Obama as president for very long, so it is not easy to judge him. I am very, very worried about some things--right now, about Bushwhack policy going forward in Latin America, when Obama's stated policy is peace, respect and cooperation. I don't know for sure if Obama is well-intentioned in Latin America. My gut feeling about him is that he is. So--if that is true--if he really does want peace, respect and cooperation as his policy--then I think he has a quite serious insurrection on his hands, led by John McCain, John Negroponte and others, who are deeply involved in Honduras, and possibly Bushwhack moles in the Pentagon and the CIA. And it is a question to me where Clinton stands in this insurrection.

I have also said that I think Obama made some deals, so as not to become the victim of Diebold & brethren--to achieve the power of the White House to do what good he is able to. To call this "cutting him down" is to naively believe that an unvetted candidate (unvetted by our corpo/fascist establishment), with reformist tendencies, could make it into the White House. This simply cannot happen any more in this country. Obama was approved. What deals did he make to get approved? This is realism, not idealism. The forces against any serious reform in this country are tremendously powerful, and extraordinarily corrupt and undemocratic. I have nothing but admiration for someone who tries to negotiate our putrid national political life to try to do some good. It is a very perilous road. It is not "cutting Obama down" to understand this and discuss it.

He is either a bold face liar, or he has no control over his military. It doesn't matter which of the two happen to be true, this is bad all around.

In the interview with Estadao (Estado de Sao Paulo) published yesterday, Jones said FARC guerrillas were operating inside VENEZUELAN territory.

Today, Obama said Colombia has a problem with the FARC on the border with ECUADOR.

From Estadao:

O presidente americano reconheceu que a "Colômbia tem uma preocupação legítima com a operação das Forças Armadas Revolucionárias da Colômbia (Farc) na fronteira" com o EQUADOR.

Reuters story left out the reference to ECUADOR.

"I think Colombia has some legitimate concerns about the FARC operating from over the border. I hope that could be resolved in conversations with its neighbors," Obama said.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle, editing by Eric Beech)

Also, note the Reuters headline says "bases" (plural) while Obama spoke of "a base." (singular)

Reuters: "We have had a security agreement with Colombia for many years now. We have updated that agreement. We have no intent in establishing a U.S. military base in Colombia," Obama said.

(OK, may be nitpicking, but it also leaves the impression that Obama does not know there are plans for SEVEN bases, not ONE.)

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Chavez today responded to Jones' remarks about FARC/Venezuela

"Él dijo que Venezuela sí le permite a la guerrilla asentarse en el territorio, ¿para qué dicen eso? (...) ellos (EE.UU.) defienden la tesis del ataque preventivo", afirmó Chávez, en referencia a los supuestos planes de invadir su país para controlar su riqueza petrolera.

(He said that Venezuela does allow the guerrillas to set up in its territory. Why are they saying that? They (USA) defend the thesis of preventive attack," Chavez said, in reference to alleged plans to invade his nation to control its oil riches.)

Chavez poked fun at Obama's denial about the bases: "If it has the tail of a pig, the ears of a pig, then it is a pig."

of opposite sides of the country at the same time! The old Pincer attack! No wonder it seems Colombia needs a lot of US help on from one to 7 more additional bases just to cope with these terrifying, world-dominionist FARCs.


I surely hope none of those rogue military or paramilitary people will go off the reservation and start killing a whole lot of innocent human beings, dressing them as dead FARCs to create the illusion they are fighting an enormous enemy and need heavy infusions of even MORE U.S. tax payers' hard earned dollars! That would be dishonest!

It sounds as if President Obama is being manipulated but good by his holdover fascist advisors. The world will be the sadder for it. What a shame people of conscience don't claw their way to get as close to the President so he would have more honest, more decent people from whom to chose when building his administration.

Thanks for adding this dynamic information. It surely makes this a much bigger, more informed place!

"just how many FARCs are there".

Long story short, Latin Pulse started out as a right wing intrusion into LINKTv and got enough flak to mend their ways.

Anyway, there was a clip of a woman talking about Uribe, a Colombian. She said that anyone who disagreed with Uribe was FARC. "Everything is FARC now. And that means, FARC elected him because according to him, we are all FARC!"

lol

vast cash payoff every year from the pockets of US taxpayers. He's ALWAYS going to need FARCs, even when, as we have seen, he has to make them up by killing ordinary citizens they don't think anyone will miss, and dressing them as FARC to prove there is an ongoing tremendous battle with this "enemy."

They won't ever give up that war against the "enemy," either, as the "enemy" is their mealticket. With a mealticket, they can hit the jackpot each year financially, :woohoo: :party: :bounce: :toast: and as long as they say they're fighting that enemy, the cash keeps coming.

http://www.aurorawdc.com.nyud.net:8090/ci/uribe.jpg http://blog.cleveland.com.nyud.net:8090/nationworld_impact/2008/07/large_Colombia_McCain_Meye.JPG

http://d.yimg.com.nyud.net:8090/bg/p/090727/afp/iphoto_1248701169475-1-0jpg.jpg http://cache.daylife.com.nyud.net:8090/imageserve/09zF8tv7JZ6LX/x250.jpg

Robert Zoelich, World Bank

http://www.hacer.org.nyud.net:8090/report/uploaded_images/ImgGaleria-G_3053_200886_164519-726364.jpg http://media.economist.com.nyud.net:8090/images/20090516/2009AM1.jpg

Russia is talking to Cuba about a base for TU-95's and Chavez has hosted Russian T-160 strategic bombers and warships. Both aircraft are nuclear delivery systems. The US is going into Columbia to upgrade airfields to handle our current inventory of military aircraft should the need for them arise.

In the world of strategic statesmanship, every move requires a counter move. If Chavez and Castro can invite the Russians, then the US wants to demonstrate that Uribe can invite the Americans.

:)

If there is anything we learned from the Cold War is that it was a fraud perpetrated to confuse and frighten people to support a permanent military-industrial establishment.

-- Lula expresses his government's concern over the military accord between Colombia and United States.

-- Brazilian leader pointed out that there is uneasiness over the transfer of the U.S. base in Manta to Colombia.

-- "We told President Uribe that it concerns us because we have just finished creating a Council to Combat Narco-trafficking, and, for that reason, that council can provide answers to many things that the Colombians think only the Americans can give."

(ouch)


TeleSUR _ Hace: 48 minutos
El presidente de Brasil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, expresó este lunes nuevamente la preocupación de su gobierno por el acuerdo militar que negocian Colombia y Estados Unidos.


La oficina de prensa de la presidencia brasileña distribuyó una entrevista que concedió Lula a medios de prensa en Quito, poco antes de regresar a Brasil, en la cual el mandatario brasileño apunta que existe una inquietud con la transferencia de la base estadounidense de Manta, Ecuador, para Colombia.


"Ya hubo una explicación del presidente de Colombia (Alvaro Uribe, quien no asistió a la cita de Quito) a varios países de América del Sur. Nosotros le dijimos al presidente Uribe que nos preocupa porque acabamos de crear el Consejo de Combate al narcotráfico y, por tanto, ese Consejo puede dar respuestas a muchas cosas que los colombianos piensan que sólo los norteamericanos puedan dar".