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Where it all begins!
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SPECIALREPORTS
| Thursday 19
August 2010 |
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COLOMBIA
-US
Ruling
Against
US
Access
to Bases
Helps
Ease
Colombia's
Isolation
Analysis
by
Javier
Darío
Restrepo
BOGOTA (IPS)
- When
the
Colombian
government
announced
in
November
that it
had
reached
a deal
to give
the U.S.
armed
forces
access
to seven
military
bases,
the news
provoked
surprise
and
protests,
like
when an
unfair
clause
is
discovered
in a
contract
that was
blindly
signed.
Except
that in
this
case,
the
Colombian
people
were not
even
aware
that any
agreement.
had been
signed.
The
opposition
invoked
article
173 of
the
constitution,
according
to which
Congress
must
authorise
the
presence
of
foreign
troops
in the
country.
But the
government
of
former
President
Álvaro
Uribe
(2002-2010)
argued
that it
was a
"simplified
agreement"
arising
from the
extension
of a
1974
military
treaty
with the
United
States,
and thus
did not
require
congressional
approval.
Opposition
politician
Carlos
Gaviria,
who is a
former
Constitutional
Court
magistrate,
argued
however
that it
could
not be
considered
a
"corollary"
to a
broader
treaty,
but was
a treaty
in its
own
right.
Analyst
Hernando
Gómez
Buendía
said the
agreement
"does
not form
part of
the U.S.
programme
of
military
aid to
Colombia,
but
represents
the
start of
Colombian
military
aid to
the
United
States."
In the
verdict
handed
down
Tuesday,
the
Constitutional
Court
ruled
that the
deal is
not a
"simplified
agreement"
but a
treaty
that
involves
new
obligations
on the
part of
the
Colombian
state,
as well
as an
extension
of
previous
obligations,
which
means it
has to
be
submitted
to
Congress
for
approval
and
reviewed
afterwards
by the
Constitutional
Court.
The
Court
thus
struck
down the
agreement
on the
argument
that it
was
unconstitutional.
But the
government
of
President
Juan
Manuel
Santos,
who took
office
Aug. 7,
may put
the
accord
before
Congress.
The
magistrates
listed
some of
the
commitments
undertaken
in the
agreement:
it
authorised
access
and use
of
military
installations
by
foreign
military
and
civilian
personnel;
allowed
the free
circulation
of
foreign
ships,
aircraft
and
tactical
vehicles
in the
national
territory
without
the
possibility
of
inspection
or
oversight
by
national
authorities;
and
authorised
the
carrying
and use
of
weapons
by
foreign
personnel
in the
national
territory.
It also
granted
diplomatic
immunity
and
privileges
to
contractors
and
subcontractors,
and to
people
overseeing
U.S.
personnel,
while
setting
vague
time
frames
for the
leasing
of the
bases.
The
Uribe
administration
turned a
deaf ear
towards
the
complaints
of other
South
American
nations
and the
protests
of many
Colombians.
The
verdict,
which
was
written
by Judge
Jorge
Iván
Palacio,
referred
to the
concerns,
fears,
protests
and
arguments
that had
been set
forth,
such as
the
worry
that the
agreement
would
shift
the
balance
of power
in the
region.
The main
effect
of the
Court
decision
is that
it
strengthens
Colombia's
relations
with the
rest of
the
region.
When the
countries
of South
America
expressed
their
concern
as a
bloc
that
U.S.
access
to the
seven
bases
posed a
threat,
Colombia
became
the most
isolated
country
in the
region.
Despite
the
Uribe
administration's
attempts
to ease
the
worries
of its
neighbours,
the
bases
were
seen as
a
platform
that
would
allow
the
United
States
to keep
a close
eye on
the
nations
of South
America.
The
government's
promise
that
U.S.
forces
would
only use
the
bases to
fight
"drug
trafficking,
terrorism
and
other
threats"
failed
to
convince,
especially
after
Colombia's
March
2008
bombing
attack
on a
Colombian
guerrilla
camp
across
the
border
in
Ecuador,
in which
U.S.
military
technology
was
used.
Ecuadorean
President
Rafael
Correa
believes
a U.S.
plane
and
other
technology
as well
as
advice
allegedly
used in
the
attack
on the
FARC
rebel
camp
came
from the
Manta
air base
on
Ecuador's
Pacific
coast,
which
was
leased
to the
United
States
from
1999 to
2009.
Opponents
of the
bases
say that
if it
needs to
carry
out
counter-narcotics
actions,
the
United
States
already
has the
Tres
Esquinas
and
Larandia
bases in
southwest
Colombia
and the
Arauca
base in
the
northeast,
as well
as the
network
of radar
stations
installed
after
the U.S.
military
forces
pulled
out of
Panama
in 1999.
The
terms of
the
treaty,
read
closely
by
presidents
in
neighbouring
countries,
are not
reassuring.
The
objectives
mention
the
fight
against
"terrorism"
--
without
defining
the term
-- as
well as
continued
impunity
for
regular
officers
and
troops
operating
at
Colombian
bases.
These
aspects,
seen
from the
outside,
made
Colombia
look
like a
servile
ally of
the
United
States,
in an
agreement
running
counter
to
regional
security
and to
the new
foreign
policy
focus of
the
countries
of Latin
America.
Just as
the Aug.
10
agreement
between
Santos
and
Venezuelan
President
Hugo
Chávez
to renew
ties
between
the two
countries
cleared
up
relations
with one
of
Colombia's
biggest
trading
partners,
the
Constitutional
Court
ruling
may help
clear up
tension
with
other
countries
in the
region.
The
treaty
was an
attempt
by the
Uribe
administration
to draw
the
United
States
further
into the
armed
conflict
with the
leftist
guerrillas.
Referring
to the
rebels
as
"terrorists,"
when
U.S.
President
George
W. Bush
(2001-2009)
had
called
on the
entire
world to
get
involved
in the
"war on
terrorism,"
was one
of the
tactics
aimed at
reaching
that
objective.
The
terminology
used by
the
government
to
describe
the
leftist
insurgents
--
"communists",
"drug
traffickers",
"appalling
crimes"
-- was
aimed at
"selling"
the war
against
the
guerrillas
to the
United
States.
The U.S.
military
technology
and
presence
worries
governments
on which
the
resource-rich
Amazon
jungle
depends.
The loud
protests
against
the
military
base
agreement
voiced
by
Chávez
were
partly
motivated
by fears
of what
would
happen
to
Venezuela's
Orinoco
heavy
oil
belt.
The
Court's
ruling
that the
accord
is
unconstitutional
helps
ease
such
concerns
and is
seen as
good
news by
the
governments
of
Colombia's
neighbours.
The
Ecuadorean
public
recalls
the
Manta
air base
for the
hundreds
of
conflicts
generated
by the
U.S.
military
in their
relations
with the
native
population.
There
were
attempts
to calm
fears
that
such
conflicts
would be
multiplied
by a
factor
of seven
in
Colombia,
with
promises
that the
U.S.
troops
would
not
enjoy
impunity
from
prosecution.
But the
situation
is quite
complex:
the
United
States
has 735
bases
around
the
world,
and each
one is a
potential
source
of
conflicts
with the
local
population,
which,
if they
were
handled
in
accordance
with the
laws of
each
country,
would
completely
undermine
the
constitutional
duty of
U.S.
authorities
to
protect
their
citizens.
The
Constitutional
Court
verdict
also
helps
ease the
humiliating
sensation
of
seeing
U.S.
military
personnel
get off
scot-free
or, at
the
most, be
tried in
the
United
States.
But
there is
no need
to get
ahead of
ourselves.
President
Santos,
who
helped
draft
the
agreement
as
Uribe's
defence
minister,
may
still
submit
it to
Congress,
where he
has a
healthy
majority.
Uribe
would
have
done so.
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