{"id":3023,"date":"2009-10-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-10-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress\/2009\/10\/colombia-u-s-sign-military-cooperation-deal\/"},"modified":"2009-10-31T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-10-31T00:00:00","slug":"colombia-u-s-sign-military-cooperation-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2009\/10\/colombia-u-s-sign-military-cooperation-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"COLOMBIA, U.S. SIGN MILITARY COOPERATION DEAL"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia and the United States signed a pact on Friday [Oct 30 2009] increasing U.S. access to military bases in the South American country, deepening its standing as Washington’s main ally in the region.
<\/em>
Left-leaning leaders in neighboring countries object to the deal, which gives U.S. troops access to seven bases in an effort to boost anti-drug and counter-insurgency operations.<\/p>\n

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says the pact will destabilize the region and could set the stage for a U.S.-led invasion of his oil-rich country, a claim that Bogota and Washington dismiss.<\/p>\n

"The pact is based on the principles of total respect for sovereign equality, territorial integrity and not intervening in the internal affairs of other states," said a statement issued by Colombia’s foreign ministry.<\/p>\n

U.S. and Colombian officials say the American military presence in the Andean country will not exceed caps previously set by the U.S. Congress of 800 military personnel and 600 contractors.<\/p>\n

Washington is relocating its regional anti-narcotics hub to Colombia after the leader of Ecuador, Chavez ally Rafael Correa, refused to extend the U.S. mission in his country. Bolivia and Nicaragua also oppose the U.S.-Colombia deal.<\/p>\n

The U.S. government already has appropriated $46 million to fund the new arrangement. Most will go to refurbish the Palanquero air force base near Bogota.<\/p>\n

Colombia, the most reliable U.S. ally in South America, has received around $6 billion in mostly military aid from Washington since 2000.<\/p>\n

U.S. ALLY URIBE<\/p>\n

Colombia’s conservative President Alvaro Uribe decided not to send the pact to Congress for consideration as recommended last week by a Colombian court. The accord has been criticized locally for granting U.S. troops immunity from criminal prosecution in Colombia.<\/p>\n

Opposition Senator Gustavo Petro, also a candidate for president, blasted the pact as invalid for not having been approved by Colombian lawmakers.<\/p>\n

"Uribe signed on because he is completely subjugated to the geopolitical strategy of the American extreme right," Petro said.<\/p>\n

But polls show most Colombians back the deal.<\/p>\n

Uribe is a hero to many for his tough stance against Marxist rebels widely loathed for their practice of kidnapping. The country’s biggest guerrilla army — the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC — is fighting a 45-year-old insurgency funded since the 1980s by the cocaine trade.<\/p>\n

Uribe may run for a third four-year term in office if his supporters manage to amend the constitution to allow him to stand in the May election. He is seen by Washington as a buffer against Chavez and Correa, both of whom have extended their periods in power through changes in election laws.<\/p>\n

Uribe has not said if he plans to run in May. Polls show he remains by far the country’s most popular politician.

(Editing by Will Dunham)<\/em>

GO TO ORIGINAL – READER SUPPORTED NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia and the United States signed a pact on Friday [Oct 30 2009] increasing U.S. access to military bases in the South American country, deepening its standing as Washington’s main ally in the region.Left-leaning leaders in neighboring countries object to the deal, which gives U.S. troops access to seven bases in an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary-archives"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}