What Effect do the U.S Military Bases in Colombia have on the Region?

Last week in an article published for The Hill, Berndardo Alvarez, Venezuela’s ambassador to the U.S expressed his concern over the U.S military bases in Colombia as he pointed out how they will contribute to only further regional instability that even U.S agencies have confirmed. He also said that the military strategy in recent years to solve the illegal drug trafficking and their internal conflict has had serious consequences such as refugees immigrating to neighboring countries and this agreement will only further deteriorate the crisis.

Alvarez also pointed out that the concern over the agreement also extends to the region as it was evident this August when 11/12 member states belonging to the Union of South American States (UNASUR) expressed dissatisfaction with the agreement. The agreement does not exactly guarantee that the operations from the bases (such as regional intelligence operations) won’t violate the sovereignty of any of the neighboring countries.

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Uribe: "Unbreakable Affection" between Venezuela and Colombia

Colombia has released the four members of Venezuela’s national guard detained on Friday, on what Colombia claims was their territory. However Venezuela’s National Guard General Orlando Mijares said that the rivers are international and fall under an agreement made between these two countries.

This is the latest concerning the disagreement and accusations between these two countries and if one simplifies Chavez wants the U.S military bases to move out of Colombia and Uribe accuses Chavez of being involved with the FARC.

Uribe said that sending the troops back was a message of “unbreakable affection” between these two countries whose relationship keeps worsening. Source 1 Source 2