Military Pact to Isolate Colombia
Bogota - Colombian Polo Democratico Alternativo''s
presidential hopeful, Gustavo Petro, warned
on Thursday that the presence of US troops
in military bases in Colombia will isolate
diplomatically the country from the rest of
Latin America.
Petro said the secret negotiation of a
military agreement between Bogota and
Washington threatens national sovereignty.
According to Petro, the dialogue about this
issue must be multilateral between the
United States and all the nations in the
continent, so that each country is able to
express their disagreement with the presence
of foreign troops.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is
currently on a South American tour to
explain to seven presidents the scope of the
said agreement, described by some
governments as a threat to Latin American
stability and peace.
In this regard, countries including Brazil,
Nicaragua, Ecuador and Venezuela, among
others, have expressed their concern and
demanded transparency from Uribe's
government about the real magnitude of the
pact, which has generated serious frictions
between Colombia and its neighbors.
If the pact becomes a reality, 1,400 US
troops will stay permanently in Colombia,
800 of them directly and another 600 as
contractors, using at least seven military
bases, according to press reports.
Several voices of the Colombian political
spectrum, including Senator Pilar Cordoba,
have said that this pact undermines national
sovereignty and turns Colombia into a
hostile country to its neighbors by becoming
the spearhead of US expansion. |
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