Colombia Meets USA on Military Pact
Bogota - The
Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez
will meet with US State Secretary Hillary
Clinton in Washington on Tuesday, to tackle
a controversial military agreement between
the two countries and other issues.
According to information from the United
States, published in this capital, Bermudez
and Clinton would announce details of the
referred pact, which has prompted tension in
the hemisphere for considering it a threat
to peace and stability in the region.
"Both officials will have a more to say
about the bilateral agreement," said US
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley in
this capital on Monday.
The spokesman, quoted by local media, also
reiterated that the agreement "seeks to
guarantee bilateral cooperation in Colombia
regarding security issues, as drug
trafficking, illegal armed groups and
terrorism."
However, that argument was seen by regional
governments as a pretext that conceals US
real intentions of stopping the changes
aroused in Latin America and regaining its
false hegemonic control of the continent.
The Colombian government announced on Friday
the closing of negotiations of the mentioned
military agreement, the text of which will
undergo technical review by government
entities of both nations, and will be signed
later.
This pact has prompted frictions between
Bogotá and its neighbors and rejection by
several national political sectors and part
of the Colombian civil society that see it
as a threaten to the country's sovereignty
and stability.
By virtue of the agreement, there will be at
least 1,400 US soldiers permanently
stationed in Colombia, 800 of them directly
and 600 as contractors, using at least seven
military bases.
This situation is seen by Venezuela, Ecuador
and Bolivia as a real and potential danger
for Latin American unity, when Colombia
became the spearhead of US expansion through
the hemisphere.
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