LIMA, (Reuters) – Colombia’s president tried to rally support yesterday for putting more U.S. troops in his country to combat drug-running guerrillas, though regional leftist leaders fear his plan could hurt stability in South America.
Alvaro Uribe, Washington’s main ally in the region, is working to reach a deal this month with the United States to let it relocate its drug interdiction flight operations to Colombia after it was kicked out of neighboring Ecuador.
The plan could give U.S. forces access to seven Colombian bases and increase the number of U.S. troops in Colombia above the current total of less than 300 but not above 800, the maximum permitted under an existing pact, officials have said.
At his first stop on a seven-country tour to ease diplomatic tensions, Uribe won the support of conservative Peruvian President Alan Garcia, one of his few friends in South America.
“President Uribe is here to talk about issues that are important for the continent, about difficult situations that have victimized Colombia and should not occur,” Garcia said.
Funded by the cocaine trade, rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, have waged an insurgency against the state for 45 years in a conflict that has killed or displaced thousands of people.
Though Garcia backs him, Uribe will likely run into resistance at subsequent meetings this week as nearly all left-wing and moderate presidents in the region have said more U.S. military in Colombia is a bad idea.
Leftist Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez accuses the United States of wanting to set up a military platform in Colombia from which to “attack” its neighbors.
Chavez’s view has been echoed by strident leftists like Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Bolivian President Evo Morales.
Moderate leaders in Brazil and Chile have also frowned on Uribe’s plans, which have touched a nerve in a region where the United States is often viewed with suspicion for having backed dictators or coups during the Cold War.
Some leaders, such as Chile’s Michelle Bachelet and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, have painful personal memories of being persecuted in the 1970s by dictatorships the United States supported.
The uproar over Uribe’s strategy could complicate efforts by U.S. President Barack Obama to improve relations with Latin America or while carrying on the war on drugs.
Obama won praise for condemning a military coup in June that ousted Honduras’ left-wing president, but some have faulted him for not taking a more active role in talks to reinstate deposed leader Manuel Zelaya.
In Colombia, Uribe is popular for his U.S.-backed crackdown on guerrillas. But he is less popular in a region that increasingly leans left.
Acting Colombian Defense Minister Gen. Freddy Padilla said his country’s neighbors were overreacting.
“Nobody other than terrorists and drug traffickers should worry about this agreement, which is transparent, respects our sovereignty, respects international accords and is simply strengthening our capacity to fight this global scourge,” he told reporters in Colombia.
Uribe’s toughest critics, Venezuela and Ecuador, are not on his itinerary, but he will meet Bolivia’s Morales, a Chavez ally.
