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REPORTS: LATIN AMERICA |
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Spectre
of Int'l Military Intervention Hangs
Over Colombia
Humberto
Márquez*
CARACAS, (IPS) - The spectre of
international military intervention has
cropped up again in Latin America, in
the context of the debate between the
region's leaders on alternative
proposals for helping Colombia put an
end to an armed conflict that has raged
for over four decades.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe himself
has raised the possibility of a
multinational intervention in his
country, as a last resort.
The Rio Group, made up of 18 Latin
American nations and a rotating
representative of the Caribbean
Community, opened the door to possible
collective action in Colombia during its
May 24 meeting in the city of Cusco in
southeastern Peru, on the suggestion of
Ecuadorian President Lucio Gutiérrez.
On that occasion, the Rio Group -- Latin
America's highest- level forum for
political consultation and coordination
-- agreed by consensus to ask United
Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to
urge Colombia's guerrillas to declare a
ceasefire, in order to restart peace
talks.
The Rio Group initiative, known as the
Cusco Consensus, earned the backing of
the Organisation of American States
(OAS) general assembly on Jun. 10, which
brought together all of the countries of
the Americas with the exception of Cuba.
But the leaders meeting in Cusco also
stated that if Annan's efforts failed,
''the Rio Group, along with the U.N.
secretary- general, and in coordination
with the Colombian government, will seek
alternative solutions.''
''What are we talking about here? A
military intervention in Colombia?''
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez asked
at the time, according to his own
account.
''I was told yes, and I told them 'Don't
even bother inviting Venezuela to take
part in something so horrifying'. If we
are going to unite, it is to wage peace,
not war,'' he added.
According to the Peruvian weekly Caretas,
Chilean President Ricardo Lagos
commented to Chávez, when everyone was
getting up to go to a dinner in Lima:
''The only Latin American who organised
a multilateral for.MDBO/ce .MDNM/was
[independence hero Símon] Bolívar,''
whose ideas and values are frequently
cited by Chávez.
Lagos, a moderate socialist, said that
if Latin America is incapable of
resolving its regional problems -- such
as the Colombian conflict -- on its own,
it runs the risk of U.S. intervention.
But, he added, that did not mean that a
regional military force should be set
up, reported Caretas.
Chávez signed the Cusco Consensus, but
did so reluctantly, he said on his
weekly Aló Presidente radio programme,
because ''never before on this continent
has a proposal been advanced like the
one set forth by the Ecuadorian
president.''
Venezuela's populist left-leaning
president said that ''inconceivable
international military interventionism,
which is sheer madness, is being spoken
of very lightly, in a dangerous
manner.''
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Roy
Chaderton told IPS that ''if it is
formally or informally brought up again,
our position will be the same --
rejection of any military intervention
in another country.''
''As a sister nation and as a neighbour,
we do not believe that is the solution.
We want to be actors in peace processes,
not wars,'' said the minister.
Gutiérrez did not respond to Chávez's
criticism, and Ecuadorian Foreign
Minister Nina Pacari said Quito ''does
not believe in any kind of
interventionism,'' and that ''there will
be no intervention by any country in the
Colombian conflict.''
But the right-wing Uribe said that if
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), the main rebel group,
''does not accept Ecuador's initiative,
there could be another way forward, in
which all of the countries could help
the Colombian government defeat
terrorism, militarily and with
authority.
''We need support from the international
community, because terrorism in Colombia
is mainly financed by the international
drug trafficking trade, and threatens to
destabilise the entire region,'' he
argued.
However, when they reported the results
of the meeting in Cusco, presidents
Alejandro Toledo of Peru and Luiz Inácio
''Lula'' da Silva of Brazil insisted
that the request for mediation by Annan
''does not imply intervention by foreign
military forces'' in Colombia.
Sources at Brazil's Foreign Ministry
said the Lula administration, which took
office on Jan. 1, continues to follow
the country's traditional policy of
non-intervention in the internal affairs
of other countries, such as the
Colombian conflict.
They also said that Brazil will only
support Annan's efforts, if they are
requested and accepted by the Colombian
government, and will neither propose nor
support any other international plan of
action.
Plan Colombia, which was launched by
Bogota and Washington to increase U.S.
military aid to Colombia for combatting
the drug trade, was expanded last year
to the counterinsurgency struggle.
Nearly 400 U.S. military advisers are
already working in Colombia, the U.S.
Defence Department told Congress.
The increasing U.S. military aid, the
growing number of advisers, and
Washington's decision to include the
leftist FARC on its list of
international terrorist organisations
has fed fears of a direct U.S. military
intervention in Colombia.
Uribe ''has realised that foreign
military involvement is heavily
criticised both within and outside of
his country, and for that reason he is
going back to the avenue of U.N.
participation, which could perhaps lead
to a peace-keeping operation, as
occurred in the past decade in Central
America,'' Venezuelan expert in
international affairs Carlos Romero said
in an interview.
He pointed out that the Argentine
government of Carlos Menem (1989-1999)
had discussed the possibility of taking
part in a multilateral force for
peace-keeping missions within the
framework of the Inter-American Treaty
of Reciprocal Assistance, of which the
United States is a signatory.
''What worries neighbouring countries,
and Brazil in particular, is that the
relationship between the United States
and Colombia in the fight against
terrorism could turn into direct U.S.
participation in the conflict,'' said
Romero, a professor of international
studies at Venezuela's Central
University.
Carlos Pérez Llana, a professor of
international relations at the
University of San Andrés in Argentina,
told IPS that ''the aim is to 'multilateralise'
a national conflict.''
''The guerrilla movements in Colombia
existed prior to the phenomenon of
narcotrafficking,'' said Pérez Llana,
who described Uribe as ''a young man who
oversimplifies things.''
Referring to the new regional proposals,
Romero underlined ''Brazil's concern for
stability and governance in the region,
as requisites for economic development,
and in particular stability in the
Andean area and Colombia.
''Making projections based on the
current variables, it is very unlikely
that a multilateral force would be set
up to intervene in the region,'' he
predicted.
Pérez Llana, meanwhile, said the
possibility that the United States would
commit troops to the conflict in
Colombia ''is very remote...especially
given the country's geographic
characteristics.
''In recent years, Washington has
deployed its forces in wide- open
spaces, not jungles,'' he noted.
But Víctor Poleo, an economy professor
at Venezuela's Central University who
specialises in the petroleum industry,
said ''the United States aims to control
the Andean region for its wealth in
hydrocarbons, and, pointing farther to
the future, for its water resources and
biodiversity.
''In that sense, Colombia is playing the
role of a wedge in the region, like
Israel in the Middle East.''
* Viviana Alonso in Argentina, Gustavo
González in Chile, Kintto Lucas in
Ecuador, and Mario Osava in Brazil
contributed to this report.
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