One of the many under-reported stories in our nation’s media are U.S. plans to build a number of new military bases in Colombia and expand others around the region.
This article by Angel Guerra Cabrera from Mexico’s La Jornada reflects the views of a huge swath of Latin American opinion – and it’s anything but music to U.S. ears.
For La Jornada, Angel Guerra Cabrera writes in part:
“Over the past decade, in the United States as well as locally, the Right has suffered major political defeats in Latin America, which explains why the Washington elite have decided in favor of a policy of force in the region. They’re falling back on the only resource over which the U.S. retains overwhelming superiority, even if that means having to sacrifice the cosmetic image-laundering Barack Obama tested out at the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain. That is what’s behind the resurrection of the U.S. Fourth Fleet, the decision to install military bases in Colombia, as well as the strange coup d’état in Honduras.
“When speaking of bases, we refer to the network of more or less permanent facilities that spread out from continental U.S. territory, through Puerto Rico, Central America, the Netherlands Antilles, Colombia – and even into Paraguay – executing electronic missions, satellite espionage, as well as the monitoring and refueling of military aircraft either for combat or the transport of rapid-reaction expeditionary forces. In sum, a network of more-or-less formal installations for the purpose of maintaining territorial control over Latin America and its natural resources and supporting the subversive activities of the CIA.”
The proven capacity of the region’s governments to deal with or act against imperial dictates, like the Yankee-Uribista [U.S.-Colombia] aggression against Ecuador or the attempted separatist coup d’état against Evo Morales, constitute a serious and unprecedented setback for U.S. hegemony in the region. This seems to have dragged the dominant groups in the U.S. to conclude that they’ve lost the political battle for the Latin American masses and are left with no solution but to back with force the (few) allied states they have left, or as a last resort, use its own forces.
By Angel Guerra Cabrera
Translated By Douglas Myles Rasmussen
September 11, 2009
Mexico – La Jornada – Original Article (Spanish)
Over the past decade, in the United States as well as locally, the Right has suffered major political defeats in Latin America, which explains why the Washington elite have decided in favor of a policy of force in the region. They’re falling back on the only resource over which the United States retains overwhelming superiority, even if that means they having to sacrifice the cosmetic image-laundering Barack Obama tested out at the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain. That is what’s behind the resurrection of the U.S. Fourth Fleet, the decision to install military bases in Colombia, as well as the strange coup d’état in Honduras.
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