FROM HOT AIR.COM
HEAD: Chavez: US base in Colombia means war
The US will likely receive an eviction notice at the end of its ten-year
lease from Ecuador for its base in ****t Manta. Rumor has the Bush
administration negotiating with Colombia to move the only American
military
base in South America to a peninsula on the Caribbean Sea, near the border
with Venezuela. Hugo Chavez vociferously protested that idea, calling it a
provocation and warning Alvaro Uribe that Chavez won't allow it:
President Hugo Chavez on Wednesday warned Colombia not to allow a U.S.
military base on its border with Venezuela, saying he would consider such
an
act an "aggression."
Chavez said he would not permit Colombia's U.S.-backed government to
establish an American military base in La Guajira, a region spanning
northeastern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela.
The Venezuelan leader said if Colombia allows the base, his government
will
revive a decades-old territorial conflict and stake a claim to the entire
region. .
Chavez urged his Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe, to "think it over
well" before making such a decision because Venezuela will do "whatever
it
takes" to ensure that a U.S. military base is not built on the peninsula
in
the Caribbean Sea.
Currently we have an agreement with Ecuador that runs out in November 2009
that allows us to use Eloy Alfaro Air Base to stage drug-interdiction
flights throughout the region. We have as many as 475 military personnel
stationed at the bas, and the base primarily looks for drug-runners in
boats
coming out of Colombia. In 2007, the Manta base caught 200 such trans****ts
in approximately 1200 missions.
The US does not want to end this program and surrender to the cartels, but
Manta simply won't be available. Ecuador's Rafael Correa has refused to
negotiate an extension, not surprisingly given his ties to Chavez, but it
will be akin to cutting off his nose to spite his face. The US base pumps
almost $7 million into the local economy and spent over $70 million
refurbi****ng Eloy Alfaro Air Base. Correa offered a deal: he'd extend the
lease if we allowed an Ecuadorian military base in Miami. Bush passed on
that offer.
Afterwards, the Bush administration said the US would operate from
already-established bases in Key West, El Salvador, and Curacao. However,
a
closer alliance with Colombia would make sense. First, the trafficking
originates there, but strategically, strengthening Colombia and Uribe
against Chavez would certainly help contain Venezuela's nuttiness. Their
exposure as a terrorist-sup****ting regime makes it even more im****tant for
the US to pressure Chavez into either retreating or cracking up, and a
base
near his border would do nicely.
Chavez may discover that he can't dictate terms to Uribe, especially when
he's
busily undermining him by funding FARC. Colombia can do what it likes with
its territory, including leasing bases to the US, and particularly when
Colombia keeps hearing threats from Caracas.
*******
In this case, "Hot Air" is most apt. Chavez is like a flea crawling up the
leg of the elephant, with rape on his mind; needs to be swatted.
Dionysus
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