Letter to the President: US-Colombia Military Bases
In accordance with our organization’s underlying mission to promote rational and constructive U.S. policies towards Latin America, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs has been asked by the esteemed Colombian Support Network (CSN), as well as by the offices of several members of Congress, to distribute the following letter to the President. This letter concerns negotiations now underway between the U.S. and Colombia, which have resulted in an agreement awaiting ratification by the U.S. Congress. Presidents Uribe and Obama have agreed to increase their collaboration in order to improve their anti-narcotics and anti-insurgency efforts in Colombia. Should the agreement pass, the U.S. will have access to several Colombian military bases. However, increased military presence in Colombia can only exacerbate Plan Colombia’s failure in the interdiction campaign against cocaine cultivation. We are concerned that it will also foster additional human rights abuses in Colombia committed by the illegal paramilitary forces that traditionally have worked with the Uribe administration.
We encourage you to consider adding your signature. To view the letter addressed to President Obama, please follow this link: http://colombiasupport.net/2009/Baldwin-on-Bases9-3-09.pdf.
If it meets your approval, please print, sign, and mail to:
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Thank you,
The Council on Hemispheric Affairs Staff