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Below the media's military radar now constantly scanning two major warzones, Iraq and Afghanistan, and several other ongoing hotspots ranging from Iran to North Korea, the U.S.' military buildup in Columbia is for the most part going unnoticed. Ostensibly to "train" native forces (a vague euphemism quickly getting old) to combat drug-funded leftist guerillas in a longstanding conflict with the government, the pending increase in American personnel and equipment did not go unnoticed by neighboring Venezuela's leader and among the most acrimoniously anti-American, Hugo Chavez.
Could this be a cover for future military action, or at least military hedging, against Venezuela, say if the so far cordial relationship between Obama and Chavez becomes bitter, i.e even more than it was with Bush? While Obama and his team are touting a victory in halting the production of seven F-22 bombers (while allocating the resources to make other if smaller military planes), few are paying attention to the fact that over $4 billion in military and other aid has been given by the U.S. to Columbia since 2000, with 1,400 service personnel and military contractors mandated by the U.S. Congress. The fifth round of U.S.-Columbia negotiations, intended to close the buildup deal, are set for next week.
Columbia's President Alvaro Uribe insists that the increase in U.S. military presence at two of his country's bases are meant to support them, not to open new ones under American jurisdiction. Considering the widening and deepening worldwide military presence of the U.S. armed forces since World War Two, from Japan to Germany and the Earth's two poles, this move shouldn't come as such a surprise, which makes it all the more shocking. With some wounds still unhealed between Columbia and Venezuela, the U.S. may be imprecating itself into another quagmire current event creating the future.
