[News] US Document Reveals Intentions of the US-Colombia Military Agreement

Anti-Imperialist News news at freedomarchives.org
Fri Nov 6 18:11:31 EST 2009



Thursday, November 5, 2009

http://www.chavezcode.com/2009/11/breaking-news-official-us-air-force.html


<http://www.chavezcode.com/2009/11/breaking-news-official-us-air-force.html>BREAKING 
NEWS: Official US Air Force Document Reveals the 
True Intentions Behind the US-Colombia Military Agreement *

By Eva Golinger


An official document from the Department of the 
US Air Force reveals that the military base in 
Palanquero, Colombia will provide the Pentagon 
with “
an opportunity for conducting full 
spectrum operations throughout South America
” 
This information contradicts the explanations 
offered by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and 
the US State Department regarding the military 
agreement signed between the two nations this 
past October 30th. Both governments have publicly 
stated that the military agreement refers only to 
counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations 
within Colombian territory. President Uribe has 
reiterated numerous times that the military 
agreement with the US will not affect Colombia’s 
neighbors, despite constant concern in the region 
regarding the true objectives of the agreement. 
But the US Air Force document, dated May 2009, 
confirms that the concerns of South American 
nations have been right on target. The document 
exposes that the true intentions behind the 
agreement are to enable the US to engage in “full 
spectrum military operations in a critical 
sub-region of our hemisphere where security and 
stability is under constant threat from narcotics 
funded terrorist insurgencies
and anti-US governments
”

The military agreement between Washington and 
Colombia authorizes the access and use of seven 
military installations in Palanquero, Malambo, 
Tolemaida, Larandia, Apíay, Cartagena and Málaga. 
Additionally, the agreement allows for “the 
access and use of all other installations and 
locations as necessary” throughout Colombia, with 
no restrictions. Together with the complete 
immunity the agreement provides to US military 
and civilian personnel, including private defense 
and security contractors, the clause authorizing 
the US to utilize any installation throughout the 
entire country - even commercial airports, for 
military ends, signifies a complete renouncing of 
Colombian sovereignty and officially converts 
Colombia into a client-state of the US.

The Air Force document underlines the importance 
of the military base in Palanquero and justifies 
the $46 million requested in the 2010 budget (now 
approved by Congress) in order to improve the 
airfield, associated ramps and other 
installations on the base to convert it into a US 
Cooperative Security Location (CSL). 
“Establishing a Cooperative Security Location 
(CSL) in Palanquero best supports the COCOM’s 
(Command Combatant’s) Theater Posture Strategy 
and demonstrates our commitment to this 
relationship. Development of this CSL provides a 
unique opportunity for full spectrum operations 
in 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.”

It’s not difficult to imagine which governments 
in South America are considered by Washington to 
be “anti-US governments”. The constant aggressive 
declarations and statements emitted by the State 
and Defense Departments and the US Congress 
against Venezuela and Bolivia, and even to some 
extent Ecuador, evidence that the ALBA nations 
are the ones perceived by Washington as a 
“constant threat”. To classify a country as 
“anti-US” is to consider it an enemy of the 
United States. In this context, it’s obvious that 
the military agreement with Colombia is a 
reaction to a region the US now considers full of “enemies”.

COUNTERNARCOTICS OPERATIONS ARE SECONDARY

Per the US Air Force document, “Access to 
Colombia will further its strategic partnership 
with the United States. The strong security 
cooperation relationship also offers an 
opportunity for conducting full spectrum 
operations throughout South America to include 
mitigating the Counternarcotics capability.” This 
statement clearly evidences that counternarcotics 
operations are secondary to the real objectives 
of the military agreement between Colombia and 
Washington. Again, this clearly contrasts the 
constant declarations of the Uribe and Obama 
governments insisting that the main focus of the 
agreement is to combat drug trafficking and 
production. The Air Force document emphasizes the 
necessity to improve “full spectrum” military 
operations throughout South America – not just in 
Colombia – in order to combat “constant threats” 
from “anti-US governments” in the region.

PALANQUERO IS THE BEST OPTION FOR CONTINENTAL MOBILITY

The Air Force document explains that “Palanquero 
is unquestionably the best site for investing in 
infrastructure development within Colombia. Its 
central location is within reach of
operations 
areas
its isolation maximizes Operational 
Security (OPSEC) and Force Protection and 
minimizes the US military profile. The intent is 
to leverage existing infrastructure to the 
maximum extent possible, improve the US ability 
to respond rapidly to crisis, and assure regional 
access and presence at minimum cost. Palanquero 
supports the mobility mission by providing access 
to the entire South American continent with the exception of Cape Horn
”

ESPIONAGE AND WARFARE

The document additionally confirms that the US 
military presence in Palanquero, Colombia, will 
improve the capacity of espionage and 
intelligence operations, and will allow the US 
armed forces to increase their warfare 
capabilities in the region. “Development of this 
CSL will further the strategic partnership forged 
between the US and Colombia and is in the 
interest of both nations
A presence will also 
increase our capability to conduct Intelligence, 
Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), improve 
global reach, support logistics requirements, 
improve partnerships, improve theater security 
cooperation and expand expeditionary warfare capability.”

The language of war included in this document 
evidences the true intentions behind the military 
agreement between Washington and Colombia: they 
are preparing for war in Latin America. The past 
few days have been full of conflict and tension 
between Colombia and Venezuela. Just days ago, 
the Venezuelan government captured three spies 
from the Colombian intelligence agency, DAS, and 
discovered several active destabilization and 
espionage operations against Cuba, Ecuador and 
Venezuela. The operations - Fénix, Salomón and 
Falcón, respectively, were revealed in documents 
found with the captured DAS agents. Approximately 
two weeks ago, 10 bodies were found in Táchira, a 
border zone with Colombia. After completing the 
relevant investigations, the Venezuelan 
government discovered that the bodies belonged to 
Colombian paramilitaries infiltrated inside 
Venezuelan territory. This dangerous paramilitary 
infiltration from Colombia forms part of a 
destabilization plan against Venezuela that seeks 
to create a paramilitary state inside Venezuelan 
territory in order to breakdown President Chávez’s government.

The military agreement between Washington and 
Colombia will only increase regional tensions and 
violence. The information revealed in the US Air 
Force document unquestionably evidences that 
Washington seeks to promote a state of warfare in 
South America, using Colombia as its launching 
pad. Before this declaration of war, the peoples 
of Latin America must stand strong and unified. 
Latin American integration is the best defense 
against the Empire’s aggression.


*The US Air Force document was submitted in May 
2009 to Congress as part of the 2010 budget 
justification. It is an official government 
document and reaffirms the authenticity of the 
White Book: Global Enroute Strategy of the US Air 
Mobility Command, which was denounced by 
President Chávez during the UNASUR meeting in 
Bariloche, Argentina this past August 28th. I 
have placed the original document and the 
non-official translation to Spanish that I did of 
the relevant parts relating to Palanquero on the 
web page of the Center to Alert and Defend the 
People “Centro de Alerta para la Defensa de los 
pueblos”, a new space we are creating to garantee 
that strategic information is available to those 
under constant threat from imperialist aggression.

Original document in English: 
<http://www.centrodealerta.org/documentos_desclasificados/original_in_english_air_for.pdf>http://www.centrodealerta.org/documentos_desclasificados/original_in_english_air_for.pdf

Traducción no oficial al español: 
<http://www.centrodealerta.org/documentos_desclasificados/traduccion_del_documento_de.pdf>http://www.centrodealerta.org/documentos_desclasificados/traduccion_del_documento_de.pdf 

Posted by Eva Golinger at 
<http://www.chavezcode.com/2009/11/breaking-news-official-us-air-force.html>2:01 
PM




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