South American leaders have issued a statement warning “foreign military forces” not to threaten the sovereignty of any of the region’s nations writes Aljazeera News Saturday.
The declaration, which was signed by all 12 leaders of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), came after a lengthy debate on Friday on plans to increase the presence of US troops at bases in Colombia.
The statement “reaffimed that the presence of foreign military forces must not … menace the sovereignty and integrity of a South American country and in consequence regional peace and stability”.
It deliberately avoided specific mention of the US military in order to allow all the leaders, including Alvaro Uribe, the Colombian president, to sign the text.
The extraordinary meeting in the Argentine mountain resort of Bariloche was called after Venezuela, along with Bolivia and Ecuador, complained that the US military could use seven bases in Colombia as launch points to overthrow their governments.
An attempt by Evo Morales, the Bolivian president, to get other leaders to sign a declaration rejecting the US deal with Colombia was rejected.
