MIAMI U.S. and Colombian officials Friday signed a pact for U.S. military access to Colombian bases that has been vociferously denounced by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and other leftist Latin American presidents as a regional threat negotiated in secret.
The 10-year agreement for the use of at least seven Colombian military bases for operations against drug traffickers and leftist guerrillas was signed in Bogota by U.S. Ambassador Bill Brownfield and the Colombian ministers of foreign affairs, defense and justice.
Foreign Affairs Minister Jaime Bermudez said the full text of the pact would be made public and sent to all Latin American governments, underlining the tensions unleashed this summer when the Bogota, Colombia, media published details of the negotiations for the deal.
U.S. and Colombian officials say the talks began in 2006, after Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa declared he would not allow the U.S. military to use the Manta airstrip on the Pacific as a base for counter-drug flights when that arrangement expired in 2009.
A base somewhere in Colombia immediately came up as a possible replacement, several U.S. government officials told El Nuevo Herald, though all said they could not remember whether the U.S. or Colombian side first raised the issue.
Formal negotiations began in mid-2008 for the use of the Palanquero air force base as a replacement for Manta. But the talks also took up the consolidation of a string of several previous arrangements for the movement of U.S. troops under the so-called Plan Colombia.
The new pact "harmonizes and updates existing bilateral agreements, practices, and arrangements on security matters, and continues to ensure appropriate protections and status for U.S. personnel," the State Department said in a statement Sunday.
Colombia was happy to negotiate the new agreement, according to both sides.
With the Plan Colombia aid winding down, and Chavez in neighboring Venezuela buying sophisticated weaponry, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe wanted to keep his U.S. allies close.
Chavez, who has long alleged the U.S military is planning to invade his country, immediately denounced the agreement, saying that "the winds of war" were blowing through the region.
The agreement for the U.S. "cooperative security locations" covers Palanquero and two other air bases, two naval bases, two army bases "and other units that would be necessary," according to Colombian news media reports.
Colombia will retain full control of the bases.
(c) 2009, The Miami Herald.
Visit The Miami Herald Web edition on the World Wide Web at http://www.herald.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
The 10-year agreement for the use of at least seven Colombian military bases for operations against drug traffickers and leftist guerrillas was signed in Bogota by U.S. Ambassador Bill Brownfield and the Colombian ministers of foreign affairs, defense and justice.
Foreign Affairs Minister Jaime Bermudez said the full text of the pact would be made public and sent to all Latin American governments, underlining the tensions unleashed this summer when the Bogota, Colombia, media published details of the negotiations for the deal.
U.S. and Colombian officials say the talks began in 2006, after Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa declared he would not allow the U.S. military to use the Manta airstrip on the Pacific as a base for counter-drug flights when that arrangement expired in 2009.
A base somewhere in Colombia immediately came up as a possible replacement, several U.S. government officials told El Nuevo Herald, though all said they could not remember whether the U.S. or Colombian side first raised the issue.
Formal negotiations began in mid-2008 for the use of the Palanquero air force base as a replacement for Manta. But the talks also took up the consolidation of a string of several previous arrangements for the movement of U.S. troops under the so-called Plan Colombia.
The new pact "harmonizes and updates existing bilateral agreements, practices, and arrangements on security matters, and continues to ensure appropriate protections and status for U.S. personnel," the State Department said in a statement Sunday.
Colombia was happy to negotiate the new agreement, according to both sides.
With the Plan Colombia aid winding down, and Chavez in neighboring Venezuela buying sophisticated weaponry, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe wanted to keep his U.S. allies close.
Chavez, who has long alleged the U.S military is planning to invade his country, immediately denounced the agreement, saying that "the winds of war" were blowing through the region.
The agreement for the U.S. "cooperative security locations" covers Palanquero and two other air bases, two naval bases, two army bases "and other units that would be necessary," according to Colombian news media reports.
Colombia will retain full control of the bases.
(c) 2009, The Miami Herald.
Visit The Miami Herald Web edition on the World Wide Web at http://www.herald.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
