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Court says US-Colombia Base Deal Unconstitutional
BOGOTA – Colombia's constitutional court Tuesday declared a US-Colombian accord that gave the US military access to at least seven Colombian bases to be unconstitutional.
Bogota and Washington last October signed a military pact that allows US troops to use Colombian bases, drawing fierce criticism from many Latin American governments who called it an affront to Colombian and Latin American sovereignty. A Colombian now court says US-Colombia base deal was unconstitutional. (AFP) The court ordered the government to submit the agreement to the
Colombian Congress, arguing that it should be executed in the form of an
international treaty that would be subject to congressional approval in
order to comply with constitutional norms.
The court did not address whether the agreement itself was appropriate.
The agreement "is an arrangement which requires the state to take on new obligations as well as an extension of previous ones and as such should be handled as an international treaty, that is, subject to congressional approval," said the court's chief justice Mauricio Gonzalez.
The court decided in March to review the agreement after a group of lawyers filed a complaint arguing it was unconstitutional.
The lawsuit claimed the October 2009 military accord was invalid because it was signed by the government of President Alvaro Uribe without prior discussion in Congress, as mandated by the constitution.
The military pact, part of a joint effort to counter drug trafficking and insurgencies, has been denounced by neighboring Venezuela as US interference in the region, raising tensions between Bogota and Caracas.
Opponents also accuse Uribe of ignoring the advice of the State Council -- the highest court on administrative matters -- which also urged that the congress take up the agreement before it was signed.
The Uribe administration deemed the State Council's opinion non binding, and said the accord was not new but merely an extension of a 1974 military pact with the United States, and as such required no legislative oversight, government officials said.
Bogota and Washington last October signed a military pact that allows US troops to use Colombian bases, drawing fierce criticism from many Latin American governments who called it an affront to Colombian and Latin American sovereignty.
In a region in which the United States historically has been the power player, its partners still are keen to stress that they are not being dominated.
The United States since 2000 has channeled more than six billion dollars to Colombia through its Plan Colombia initiative to fight drug trafficking and insurgencies.
- Posted in
34 Comments so far
Show AllAnother small loss for the Empire.
Sadly with all the money going to Colombia it should not be an issue buying for the US to buy off the politicians to get this pass their legislative process.
Do the right thing for a change Columbia and see the murdering, pillaging Americans to the door.
The US has had "contractor troops" in Colombia for a long time. The $6 billion over the past ten years is to protect the cocaine trade for the CIA and DEA.
That's probably pretty close to the truth. As documented by Douglas Valentine in "The strenght of the pack".
The US Supreme Court legalize the purchase of politicians and issues here in America on Jan. 21st of this year. Yesterday's news was of the Fox Network's contribution of a million dollars to a GOP Governors organization!
How sad that not even one congress person introduced a bill to impeach the 5 justices who have overthrown democracy and the Constitution. What has the Green Party said? Does anyone know?
The military pact, part of a joint effort to counter drug trafficking and insurgencies, has been denounced by neighboring Venezuela as US interference in the region, raising tensions between Bogota and Caracas.
----------------
From Venezuela Analysis 9-9-09:
"...An official document from the Department of the US Air Force reveals that the military base in Palanquero, Colombia will provide the Pentagon with “…an opportunity for conducting full spectrum operations throughout South America…” This information contradicts the explainations offered by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the US State Department regarding the military agreement signed between the two nations this past October 30th. Both governments have publicly stated that the military agreement refers only to counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations within Colombian territory. President Uribe has reiterated numerous times that the military agreement with the US will not affect Colombia’s neighbors, despite constant concern in the region regarding the true objetives of the agreement. But the US Air Force document, dated May 2009, confirms that the concerns of South American nations have been right on target. The document exposes that the true intentions behind the agreement are to enable the US to engage in “full spectrum military operations in a critical sub-region of our hemisphere where security and stability is under constant threat from narcotics funded terrorist insurgencies…and anti-US governments…”
We still love the smell of napalm in the morning after pullin' an all-nighter fueled by Columbian marching powder and underage Latin prostitutes. This is our foreign policy: we can buy anything so we do. If you refuse to sell it we'll kill you and find someone who will. That other countries are concerned about our presence in Columbia should not be the issue. Look at all the good we have brought to the indigenous people of this area since the 1500s. Lots of them have electricity now, so it's all good. Those who want to keep their lives free of U.S. Empire are missing the bus to the big party we will throw once we've installed the right people in their countries. Yes, the party will have cocaine and shady characters usually associated with the syndicates and cartels. But, hey, let's party on dudes! We can drive my BMW and cop a bj from some 17yr old ghetto sista for a few lines and $10 bucks if the party is a bust. Then hit Taco Bell before we crash; nothing like an authenic meal after a hard run. God, I love this country!
"This is our foreign policy: we can buy anything so we do. If you refuse to sell it we'll kill you and find someone who will. " –(linkwray)
–Cogently stated and as accurate as, well, "napalm in the morning."
Blood and money, to simplify American foreign policy down even more to its racist roots.
Same as it ever was.
For six billion dollars you can likely buy Much of Colombia's congress and most of ours.
Want a good laugh?
Here's the infamous NY Times editorial from 2002, days after the attempted coup on Hugo Chavez.
The propaganda is so thick you may not be able to wade through it.
(You'll have to paste together this long URL as the system would not let me print it in regular fashion)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/13/opinion/hugo-chavez
-departs.htmlscp=1&sq=Venezuelan%20democracy%20
is%20no%20longer%20threatened%20by%20a%20would-
be%20dictator&st=cse
** If this doesn't work simply google: "Hugo Chavez Departs Editorial New York Times". It'll be the first entry.
Next time, just use tinyurl.com!
Thank you. I just checked out TinyURL.
Now I know what it is. Great tool.
Thanks for the heads up. Great---and sickening---read...do you think the CIA wrote that or the NYT on their own?
In return, for some useful information on Amerika's assault on Venezuela, I suggest dialing your google machine to "Eva Golinger Venezuela."
do you think the CIA wrote that or the NYT
----------------------
Yes.
http://carlbernstein.com/magazine_cia_and_media.php
"do you think the CIA wrote that or the NYT on their own?" –(monroematt)
The C.I.A. and the New York Times share a seamless continuum in right wing ideology.
Given the New York Times' sordid tradition in enabling and rationalizing C.I.A. sponsored terror in Latin America, for all practical purposes the Times can be said to share a highly dubious reciprocity, if not outright similarity with the C.I.A as a functionary of imperial disinformation and as enablers of state terror.
The article also mentions that "Argentina struggles with a devastating economic crisis." Gee, I wonder how that happened.
"Rightly, his removal was a purely Venezuelan affair."
My God! Thick isn't the word for it!
Caca is a better word here. The cia acts like a neurotic and insecure person in Latin America. Our policy there has been misled there since the slave trade was banned and those folks decided to redeploy in Latin America in the early 19th century. They are not associated patriotically with the American Dream. The name Prescott comes immediately to mind.
Hooray for the Columbian Court! Our troops and our money out of Columbia. Out of South America for that matter. The faster the better.
Be the Jack! You know, the Jack that chops down the beanstalk. Be the Jack!
I tried to locate The New York Times editorial from around April 15th, 2002 with their mea culpa but couldn't get my hands on it.
Now THAT would be an equally interesting read.
Reminds me of Emily Latella from SNL..."Never mind".
Chavez recounts the events of the attempted coup in Oliver Stone's "South of the Border".
If any of you have not seen it, put it in your Netflix que....
Stone also interviews Kirschner of Argentina and many other South American leaders.
I predict with the recent positive meeting between Chavez and Santos that the U.S.'s days of military "full spectrum dominance" in South America are numbered.
I don't get it Abbybwood - Santos is Uribe's hand picked successor. Does Santos have a tongue more silvery than Obama and the same propensity to lie, or is he really slipping Uribe's foreign policy down the poop chute?
"Court says US-Colombia Base Deal Unconstitutional"
Good news!
If it stands, it means USA have waisted 13 bn dollars on unavailable bases.
"The court did not address whether the agreement itself was appropriate."
–Believe, that after six billion dollars imperial dollars spent to insure American military hegemony, the agreement WILL BE appropriate, despite what the Columbian courts say.
Are not the bases of American fascism already being built?
How stupid.
Inviting the USA into your country for "stability" is like inviting a Catholic Priest to babysit your kids
Thanks for the laugh, mujeriego!
Hey, this is excellent news, if the decision is upheld!
But, knowing the way things go...
I like the protest mural - except the straw house labeled "Colombia" had el cochino mas estupido in it, not el abuelita de la Niña de la capillita roja in it.
Abajo el Imperilismo Yanqui!!!
The US gov't. needs to bring all of its military from around the world, home. We have no business being a domineering presence anywhere, including Iraq and Afghanistan. Think of what we could do for this country if we had the trillions that are spent supporting these foreign bases. We could create a real democracy where the common good of the American people came first. We could have communities where everyone has a good job, a decent place to live, universal healthcare, and a safe, clean environment. Every one cooperating for the good of all. This is what democracy is supposed to look like, but America has been taken hostage by the obscenely rich, and unless the rest of us can come together and take away their power, this country is doomed.
..."Bogota and Washington last October signed a military pact that allows US troops to use Colombian bases, drawing fierce criticism from many Latin American governments who called it an affront to Colombian and Latin American sovereignty."
The US had a little trouble keeping bases in Saudi Arabia in the late 90's, but all it took to resolve that was to swing a deal that provided an excuse to move those bases to Afghanistan and Iraq....