U.S. troops shouldn’t be on Colombian bases

Lifestyles
May 12, 2010
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At a time when taxpayers know many people who are unemployed or living with the fear of layoffs, the United States has signed a costly 10-year military agreement with Colombia.

The agreement grants U.S. forces access to seven Colombian military bases. The goals of that access are: “opportunity for conducting full-spectrum operations throughout South America” against threats, not only from drug trade and guerrilla movements, but also from “anti-U.S. governments” in the region. Nations bordering Colombia are Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and Venezuela. Additional nations in Latin America participate in the newly formed Bank of the South and the democratically run Organization of American States.

While a number of Latin American countries are supporting democratic institutions, the U.S. has made common cause with Colombia, a nation with the worst record of human rights abuses in the Western hemisphere. Colombians living on resource-rich lands have been forced from their historic homes by armed strife.

The 2009 agreement for U.S. troops to move into Colombian bases will cost billions of dollars and is against the desires of Colombian civilians who want justice and peace in their nation. It will place the United States in the role of aggressor, potential occupier, and threat to the rest of Latin America. It must be ended now.

Willie Righter

Dayton

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