BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AP) — The United States and Colombia are nearing agreement on expanding the American military’s presence here, probably basing several hundred troops in a central valley to support Air Force drug interdiction missions.
Both countries said they hoped that a fifth round of talks scheduled for this month in Bogotá would seal a 10-year lease arrangement.
Opponents worry that an expanded role for the United States military in Colombia, the world’s No. 1 cocaine-producing nation, could antagonize Colombia’s leftist neighbors and draw the United States deeper into Colombia’s complicated, long-running conflict involving leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitary groups.
Most details of the negotiations have remained secret, but senior Colombian military and civilian officials said the goal was to make Colombia a regional hub for Pentagon operations.
At a public hearing Wednesday called in response to criticism of the secrecy surrounding the talks, three Colombian government ministers defended the negotiations as vital in the fight against drug trafficking and terrorism. “We’re not ceding even a piece of territory,” said the acting defense minister, Gen. Freddy Padilla.
The accord would not permit the American military to use force, and all its activities would have to be approved by the Colombian government, he said.
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