US Military Bases in Latin America: A Real Problem

Ecuador’s decision to shut down the US military base in Manta in 2009 and to add a clause to the country’s constitution forbidding foreign military installations in its territory creates a serious problem for US attempts to intervene in the affairs of its neighbors to the south. According to the purochile.org website: “The US military bases in Latin America, in accordance with the plans of the Southern Command, is divided as follows: Central America, Caribbean, Andean System and Southern Cone. The Andean system is made up by Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia and Peru.” The source confirms that in this last case, US intervention framework is tied in to monitoring the state of the ever increasing political and economic relations between these countries and China and Russia in addition to monitoring the governments of Venezuela and Ecuador in relation to their support of Iran. “These guidelines can turn into dangerous acts of US intervention that would originate from installed military bases and others that might be installed in the near future,” states the site. The designated bases to comply with such a role in South America are Manta in Ecuador; Iquitos, Saint Lucia and Nanay in Peru; Tres Esquinas, Larandia, Puerto Leguisamo and Leticia in Colombia; and Charape in Bolivia. Last year an enclave for submarines was discovered off the coast of Suriname that would control the Atlantic including Brazil. The Mariscal Estigarribia air base, in Paraguay, is the largest in the region and can swing into action in minutes on any point of South America while in Argentina there are 8 enclaves that the new government authorities would like to revoke. Despite all this deployment, the White House’s reaction before Quito’s decision is to look for another country to place their intervention forces once Manta is closed. In effect, Washington’s hopes to relocated these installations in Ecuador and the transfer process has already begun with possible candidates for the move. In Colombia’s case, Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez prematurely declared that Bogota will not accept a new US military base in its territory, “although it would strengthen existing cooperation mechanisms,” with the US army. The Colombian press has speculated that US soldiers in Manta can occupy the local base of Posadero with a capacity for 100 planes and located close to the area currently controlled from Ecuadorian territory. Although Bogota has initially said no, it seems like a door has been left slightly ajar in case someone wants to push it open at the last moment.