Colombia deal gives US access to military bases

Colombia granted the United States access to seven military bases yesterday for anti-drug operations, signing a deal that has angered South American countries wary of any US deployment in the region.
Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez and the US ambassador to Colombia, William Brownfield, signed the accord during a brief closed-door ceremony in Bogota, a Colombian foreign ministry spokesman told AFP.
The exact text of the agreement, which Washington says is aimed at boosting cooperation in fighting guerrillas and tackling rampant drug trafficking, will be disclosed next week, Bermudez said.
Tensions have flared in Latin America since the deal emerged in July, with Venezuelan Hugo Chavez warning that "winds of war" were blowing across the continent.
Several countries in the region -- notably Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia -- have claimed the planned US military deployment is suspiciously large for its stated purpose.
The 10-year deal allows the US military to use seven bases in strategically located Colombia, which shares a border with Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru and Panama.
Some 800 US troops and 600 American civilians will be permitted on Colombian soil and will be granted total immunity, according to excerpts of the agreement leaked to local media.
The move comes as relief for Washington's efforts in the region, after it closed its only remaining base in South America in September -- in the port city of Manta, Ecuador -- from where it had launched aerial surveillance operations targeting cocaine shipments.
Washington insists the deal only involves using Colombian bases -- three aerial, two naval and two army bases -- and will not lead to the building of US facilities on South American soil, as some critics of the plans fear.
One of the bases involved, at Palanquero, 110 miles (180 kilometers) west of Bogota, boasts a two-mile (3.5-km) runway adapted for large cargo planes, which critics say would allow the US to project itself far beyond Colombia's borders.
Colombian neighbors Venezuela and Ecuador in particular worry that intelligence and other operations could be carried out on their soil from Colombia, a charge Washington denies.
Bogota says the deal will extend cooperation with Washington already enshrined in "Plan Colombia," under which the country has received nearly 5.5 billion dollars in US aid since 2000 to combat drug trafficking and guerrillas.
Colombia's Council of State, which holds an advisory role, had argued that given its reach, the text should be submitted to congressional approval. But the government bypassed the recommendation.
During a regional summit on August 28, South American presidents attacked the plans, warning "foreign military forces" against threatening national sovereignty.