Center for International Policy (CIP)Americas ProgramAugust 13, 2009
Obama's Choice: New Documents Show United States Seeks Colombian Bases for Training and Operations
By John Lindsay-Poland*
President Obama was forced to address the growing clamor in SouthAmerica in opposition to plans for U.S. military use of at least sevenbases in Colombia. The base agreement proposes to carry out regionaloperations with a wide and ambiguous mandate. “We have no intent inestablishing a U.S. military base in Colombia,” Obama said, but theproposal has always been for U.S. military use of national bases inColombia.Recent documents reveal more about the missions planned for the bases.The most recent military budget document and the Colombian governmentdefine the purpose far beyond counter-narcotics work. The Pentagon seekssites for “contingency operations, logistics and training,” and plans todeploy C-17 cargo aircraft—not used for counter-narcotics—at thePalanquero air base in Colombia.The facilities under negotiation appear to be aimed at replacing theformer School of the Americas and other U.S. military training sites forLatin American armies. In a July 28 written response to Colombiansenators, Interior Minister Fabio Valencia said that the agreement seeksto “deepen cooperation in areas such as: interoperability, jointprocedures, logistics and equipment, training and instruction,strengthening monitoring and reconnaissance capacity, combined exercisesand especially exchange of intelligence information.”The bases also will lock in a US military presence well beyond PresidentObama’s tenure. They send a message to Colombians and others in theregion that the United States will respond militarily to regionalproblems—from illegal drugs, to poverty to bilateral tensions—instead ofdeveloping diplomacy, negotiation, economic development, and treatment.Rather than responding to a specific and justified military mission,these bases represent a presence in search of a mission.Read more (full online article with links):http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6351* John Lindsay-Poland co-directs the Fellowship of Reconciliation Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean, in Oakland, California. He can be reached at johnlp(at)igc(dot)org./For More InformationNew Military Base in Colombia Would Spread Pentagon Reach Throughout Latin Americahttp://americas.irc-online.org/am/6148Far Worse Than Watergatehttp://americas.irc-online.org/am/6253
Obama's Choice: New Documents Show United States Seeks Colombian Bases for Training and Operations
By John Lindsay-Poland*
President Obama was forced to address the growing clamor in SouthAmerica in opposition to plans for U.S. military use of at least sevenbases in Colombia. The base agreement proposes to carry out regionaloperations with a wide and ambiguous mandate. “We have no intent inestablishing a U.S. military base in Colombia,” Obama said, but theproposal has always been for U.S. military use of national bases inColombia.Recent documents reveal more about the missions planned for the bases.The most recent military budget document and the Colombian governmentdefine the purpose far beyond counter-narcotics work. The Pentagon seekssites for “contingency operations, logistics and training,” and plans todeploy C-17 cargo aircraft—not used for counter-narcotics—at thePalanquero air base in Colombia.The facilities under negotiation appear to be aimed at replacing theformer School of the Americas and other U.S. military training sites forLatin American armies. In a July 28 written response to Colombiansenators, Interior Minister Fabio Valencia said that the agreement seeksto “deepen cooperation in areas such as: interoperability, jointprocedures, logistics and equipment, training and instruction,strengthening monitoring and reconnaissance capacity, combined exercisesand especially exchange of intelligence information.”The bases also will lock in a US military presence well beyond PresidentObama’s tenure. They send a message to Colombians and others in theregion that the United States will respond militarily to regionalproblems—from illegal drugs, to poverty to bilateral tensions—instead ofdeveloping diplomacy, negotiation, economic development, and treatment.Rather than responding to a specific and justified military mission,these bases represent a presence in search of a mission.Read more (full online article with links):http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6351* John Lindsay-Poland co-directs the Fellowship of Reconciliation Task Force on Latin America and the Caribbean, in Oakland, California. He can be reached at johnlp(at)igc(dot)org./For More InformationNew Military Base in Colombia Would Spread Pentagon Reach Throughout Latin Americahttp://americas.irc-online.org/am/6148Far Worse Than Watergatehttp://americas.irc-online.org/am/6253
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