Colombian and US officials signed an agreement [1]October 30 to grant the United States the use of at least seven military bases in Colombia for ten years, an agreement that was fiercely criticized by South American leaders, Colombian civil society, and US lawmakers and humanitarian groups.
The new US air base in Palanquero will “expand expeditionary warfare capability” and “improve global reach” for “conducting full spectrum operations,” according to a newly disclosed Pentagon budget document [2]. The Air Force document describes South America as “a critical sub region of our hemisphere where security and stability is under constant threat from narcotics funded terrorist insurgencies, anti-US governments, endemic poverty and recurring natural disasters.” The document flatly contradicts well-publicized claims [3] by US Ambassador William Brownfield that soldiers based in Colombia will “never, never, never” participate in armed operations, and that the base agreement doesn’t allow operations outside Colombian territory.
While the US Embassy in Bogota [4] said the agreement enters into force immediately, a Colombian court ruling [5] said the agreement is “broad and unbalanced” in favor of the United States and is not based on any previous treaty, and so must be reviewed by the Colombian Congress and Constitutional Court. The agreement puts no limits on the number of US personnel to be deployed in Colombia nor on the number of military bases they will use.
Colombia’s constitution requires legislative approval for stationing of any foreign troops on Colombian territory, as well as for all international treaties. The Colombian State Council, a court created to issue opinions on the presence of foreign troops, found that the agreement gives the US the power to decide what operations will occur, gives immunity to US troops, allows access to bases beyond the 7 bases named in the agreement, and defers the most important questions about military operations to future “operational agreements”.
The Council also reviewed 15 prior treaties and declarations cited by the Colombian government as the foundation for the current base agreement, and found that none of them offer a basis for the current agreement on stationing of military troops and use of military bases. It concludes that the agreement is a treaty, and so must be approved by the Colombian Congress and reviewed by the constitutional court. But Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez, in signing the deal, said the government would bypass legislative approval of the base agreement.
The agreement’s environmental provisions are extremely unfavorable to Colombia. The accord requires the United States to turn over all facilities in “as is” condition, while there is no obligation by the United States to remediate environmental damages caused by activities carried out under the agreement, such as chemical contamination, unexploded ordnance, fuel spills, etc. Any appeal to international bodies to remedy damages is forbidden. The agreement even contemplates Colombian payments to the United States for improvements, whether or not damages to lands or property have occurred.
Colombian Senator Gustavo Petro called on [6] the government to renounce the pact, a renunciation which he says would improve relations with neighboring Venezuela. In addition, Petro said, “because it didn’t go through Congress, the pact is ineffectual, and any occupation by [US] soldiers in Colombia is illegal.”
In addition, twenty-seven European organizations called [7] on President Obama to reconsider the agreement, and urged the president to prioritize human rights in US relations with Colombia. “The militarization of Colombia,” the groups wrote, “will lead to an increase in internal destabilization, will involve even more of the civilian population in the war, increasing the violations of human rights and strengthening the resurgence of the paramilitary groups and the receding guerrilla groups.”
People representing several organizations, including US activists, raised a banner [8] at the Palanquero base saying “No US Troops in Colombia” and remembered the 17 Colombians killed by pilots operating from the base in 1998. “It will be worse than the School of the Americas, because it will not only be part of a process of training the Colombian army, but now the US army will be able to operate here with impunity. And it will be a threat to Colombian sovereignty,” said Gilberto Villaseñor, a former FOR Colombia team member who participated in the presence.