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LATIN AMERICA |
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Colombian Government Says U.S. Bases Pact
Not an Issue for Congress
BOGOTA – The Colombian government said
Thursday that a basing accord between Bogota
and Washington can be signed without
congressional approval because it does not
involve the movement of foreign troops over
national territory for offensive purposes.
The argument was made by Foreign Minister
Jaime Bermudez and Justice Minister Fabio
Valencia during a meeting with leaders of
the Senate and the lower house in Bogota.
Though he was scheduled to take part,
Defense Minister Gabriel Silva was not
present.
The speaker of the lower house, Edgar Gomez,
said at the end of the meeting that
President Alvaro Uribe’s government believes
“the accord does not affect the neutrality
of the state, does not imply the movement of
(foreign) troops, does not contemplate the
passage of military personnel (over national
territory) for offensive purposes.”
Therefore, Gomez said, the administration’s
stance is that it is not necessary for the
accord to be subject to discussion and
approval by the legislative branch.
Manuel Vives, chairman of the foreign
affairs committee in the lower house, said
the basing pact does not require
congressional scrutiny because it is merely
“the expansion of an already existing
accord,” referring to a 1974 treaty on
military cooperation.
The government’s position runs counter to
the view of the Council of State, a high
court that – in a non-binding opinion
requested by Uribe and leaked to the press –
concluded that the military accord should be
reviewed by Congress.
Opposing the basing accord are Colombia’s
main opposition parties, the Liberals and
the leftist PDA.
The accord – under which the United States
will have access to at least seven Colombian
military bases, helping its close ally fight
drug trafficking and “terrorism” perpetrated
by the Andean nation’s leftist rebels – is
to be signed Friday in Bogota.
Silva made the announcement in Washington,
where he had traveled to meet with U.S.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to Colombia,
William Brownfield, told reporters that the
White House is legally required to send
every executive agreement it signs to the
foreign relations committees of the Senate
and House of Representatives.
He also said the agreement “exclusively”
involves bilateral cooperation between
Colombia and the United States and that
therefore U.S. troops’ actions and missions
will pose no threat to other nations’
sovereignty.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave
assurances in this regard in a recent letter
sent to her counterparts in South America,
Brownfield said.
Since the start of negotiations on the
basing deal, other countries in the region –
particularly Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and
Brazil – have raised concerns about its
potential impact on the sovereignty and
security of Colombia’s neighbors.
Venezuela’s socialist leader, Hugo Chavez, a
socialist and outspoken critic of U.S.
“imperialism,” has gone as far as to say it
could spark a war in the region.
But Colombia and the United States say other
countries have nothing to fear and that the
agreement is necessary after Ecuador this
year refused to renew Washington’s lease on
an air base used for counter-narcotics
operations. EFE
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