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Sep
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by Li Rong
BEIJING, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) — A U.S. deal on military bases in Colombia is pitting Bogota against many neighboring countries, which feared the bases would threaten their national security and heighten regional tension.
Venezuela, which borders Colombia to the north, is the most vehement opponent of the plan. Its president Hugo Chavez instructed the foreign ministry to get prepared to sever ties with Bogota.
Bolivian President Evo Morales proposed Wednesday that South Americans vote in a continent-wide referendum on the issue. Others,including Uruguay, Ecuador, Argentina and Brazil supported the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) to intervene in the case.
The Unasur has decided to meet [...] in Argentina to discuss the issue.
VENEZUELA PREPARED FOR POSSIBLE ARMED CONFLICT
Chavez said on Tuesday there is no possibility of repairing ties with the Colombian government and told Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro to “begin preparing for the rupture with Colombia.”
Chavez has frozen diplomatic ties with Colombia on July 28 after the deal ensuring Washington’s access to at least seven Colombian bases by the year 2019. In return, Bogota will get some 5 billion U.S. dollars in aid.
Venezuela began last week establishing 70 “peace bases” on its border with Colombia, and their construction would be finished around beginning of next month.
“Each Venezuelan has to be a soldier to defend Venezuela,” Francisco Arias Cardenas, Venezuelan Vice Foreign Minister, told a press conference, saying that Venezuela was seeking to take creative initiatives to prevent conflicts.
There are reports that Chavez will buy tanks when he visits Russia in September. “This trip has been planned since the beginning of the year, but now we have much more important reasons to step up cooperation,” Chavez was quoted as saying.
Venezuela also decided to end an agreement to provide fuel to Colombia. Venezuela’s Energy and Petroleum Minister, Rafael Ramirez, said they were implementing rigorous security measures to prevent fuel contraband to Colombia.
PREVAILING SENSE OF INSECURITY
Venezuela is not alone in being upset by the deal. “If the Colombian president wants his bases to be used, I say I want a referendum in South America so the people of Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina — all 12 countries — can decide,” said Bolivia’s Morales.
Ecuador’s national assembly passed a resolution Tuesday saying the establishment of U.S. military bases in Colombia would undermine peace in the region.
Many urged the Unasur to intervene and discuss the case with Washington. In a phone conversation last Friday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama that a meeting with the Unasur countries would help restore the confidence across the region. Obama replied that he would consider such a meeting.
[...] Uribe insists the agreement, which allows the presence of 800 U.S. soldiers and 600 civilian contractors of the Pentagon or U.S. security organizations for 10 years at Colombian bases, is aimed at combating drug trafficking and terrorism in South America.
(Original title: “Planned U.S. military bases in Colombia increase regional tensions”)
