U.S. military going from Ecuador to Colombia?

For several years the U.S. military have occupied a military base in Manta, Ecuador which they use mainly for counternarcotics operations. Ecuador’s government decided last year to not renew the military lease at Manta once it expires next month. Whether an alternative base would soon be established in Colombia or Peru remains to be seen though several hints in recent months indicate that possibility could happen very soon.

Back in April, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield said that discussions were taking place between the White House and Casa de Nariño over expanding to a military base in Colombia. "Colombia and the US are collaborating on the efforts against the illegal drugs, in the efforts against the international delinquency. Part of this collaboration, without doubts, requires the access to facilities between both countries," said Brownfield who was previously U.S. ambassador to Venezuela. Indeed, the Pentagon budget submitted to Congress last May included allocating $46 million to expand the base in Palanquero, Colombia.

After last weeks visit by President Alvaro Uribe to Washington, Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez said that “to be perfectly clear, there will be no new U.S. base in Colombia." Yet an article from Colombian magazine Cambio claimed that Palanquero will be a small piece in a much wider plan:

A soon-to-be-signed, 10-year bilateral cooperation pact will give U.S. military personnel the right to operate from five bases in Colombia, the newsweekly Cambio reported Thursday.

The United States is seeking basing rights in Colombia because Ecuador declined to renew an accord allowing Washington to coordinate drug-interdiction efforts from the Manta airbase on the Andean nation’s Pacific coast.

Colombia’s three main airbases: Palanquero, in the central part of the country; Alberto Pouwels, in the north, and Apiay, in the south, will play host to U.S. units, according to the Bogota-based magazine.

The U.S. military will also have access to the Colombian naval bases at Cartagena, on the Caribbean, and Malaga, located on the Pacific.

Will the U.S. military move its base from Ecuador to Colombia? Stay tuned…

Image- El Tiempo
Online Sources- Colombia Reports, LAHT, The Latin Americanist, PRESS TV, CIP Americas