Ecuador Concerned about Larger US Presence
QUITO - Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño
reiterated on Thursday that "of course, most
member countries of the Union of South
American Nations (UNASUR) and Ecuador are
worried about a larger US military presence
in the region."
In a meeting with foreign journalists
accredited to Ecuador, Patino said that
during the US Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton's recent visit to Ecuador, issues
related to UNASUR and some others of
bilateral interests were discussed.
Regarding UNASUR, a most reiterated issue in
President Rafael Correa's talks with Clinton
was the need to adopt decisions to generate
a level of confidence between South America
and the United States, said Patino.
"We have reiterated Mrs. Clinton the UNASUR
decision to turn the region and maintain it
as a territory of peace and that we are
happy that for a long time there has been no
military conflict among our borders," he
said.
"We have told Mrs. Clinton that we consider
important to have the greatest level of
information and transparency between UNASUR
and the United States about its larger
military presence, including the 4th Fleet
that had not been here for a long time and
some military bases in Colombia," added
Patino.
"They do not have any cause for concern
because South America does not have a
military presence near their borders, but we
are worried about that larger military
presence around us and we have urged them to
refrain from increasing it," he said.
"Mrs. Clinton said that they are not
interested in increasing their military
presence in the region and that what they
have done in Colombia is just to support the
government in the struggle against drug
trafficking and they limit their presence to
this," he stated.
Minister Patino added that I think that we
all achieved a diplomatic victory by the
"denarcotization" of our relations with the
United States and Secretary Clinton even
expressed the willingness to cooperation in
the environmental protection of the
Amazonia.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
