MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombia and Venezuela raise the stakes for the Unasur summit

A major clash of personalities and attitudes: Chavez and Uribe

Colombia reiterated its willingness to an open discussion on the deployment of US forces in Colombian bases but also wants Venezuela to adopt a similar attitude regarding its arms, armament and alliance policies.

In the eve of the Unasur (Union of South American Nations) summit in Argentina, Colombian Foreign Affairs minister Jaime Bermúdez said “Venezuela must let us know the extent of its armament policy, arms purchases and security agreements with out of the region countries such as Russia and Iran, as well as possible links with the narcotics trade”.

According to Buenos Aires press reports Brazilian president Lula da Silva has requested the host of the Friday summit in Bariloche, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner that Foreign Affairs ministers meet before the summit to agree on a basic draft that could then be debated by the leaders.

Brazil does not want a repeat of what happened two weeks ago in Quito, Ecuador, at the official Unasur summit, when leaders began discussing about the problem without a previous ministerial consideration and minimum consensus.

At the Quito summit host Rafael Correa, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales severely questioned the Colombian government of President Alvaro Uribe and lobbied strongly for a declaration rejecting the US/Colombia agreement for the deployment of US forces.

There was no final declaration in Quito, Lula da Silva left before the event was over and Argentina with support from other members proposed a special summit in Bariloche, to specifically address the issue two weeks later: Friday August 28th.

On the other side of the extreme position led by President Chavez and his “winds of war” forecast stand Chile, Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay who disagree with “foreign forces” in the continent but respect Colombia’s sovereign decisions.

Brazil and Argentina are also “suspicious” of such deployment of US forces and contrary to foreign bases in the region, but believe Unasur has the mechanisms to address the issue and want a more conciliatory attitude, since “the unity of Unasur is at stake”. Nevertheless it’s not quite certain how the summit might evolve.

Colombia is willing to openly discuss (on live television) the US agreement but demands Venezuela do the same regarding its massive purchases of arms and security alliances with Russia and Iran.

Peru (and even Argentina) could demand the same from Chile and the billions of US dollars it has invested in updating and re-equipping its armed forces.

Paraguay has also expressed its intention of asking Bolivia why the recent arms purchases and links with Russia and Iran.

Bolivia’s Evo Morales has proposed a continental referendum on the deployment of US forces in Colombian bases and has described any military agreement with the US as an “act of treason” to the peoples of the region.

Bolivia could also put forward its long standing demand for an outlet to the Pacific which it lost 130 years ago to Chile and Peru.