A just-published article by my friend and colleague John Lindsay-Poland raises alarming questions about the revamping of U.S. militarization in Colombia. He calls current plans in the works "the worst thing to happen to U.S. policy in the Andes since Plan Colombia began a decade ago." This blog began alerting readers about this possibility almost a year ago and now negotiations are in their final stages.

The article published by Foreign Policy in Focus makes an undoubtedly convincing case.

The deal between the Uribe administration and the Obama White House "would establish U.S. military operations for at least ten years on five sites — at Palanquero, Puerto Salgar; Apiay, Meta; and Malambo (all air force bases), and in Cartagena and Málaga Bay (both naval bases)."

The new presence stems from the Ecuadorian government's refusal to extend Washington's lease on the Manta air base near the Colombian border. Ecuador's President Rafael Correa memorably offered to extend the lease if Washington agreed to host an Ecuadorian military base in Miami. Unlike Manta, U.S. operations in the Colombian bases are not limited to counter-drug operations; in Colombia, U.S. military personnel and equipment can be used in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations. Congressional funding allows for Pentagon "contingency operations" from the Colombian bases, and Lindsay-Poland notes this "can mean almost anything."

He also adds:

Another sticky point is judicial immunity for U.S. soldiers and contractors, sought by Washington. In October 2007, two U.S. soldiers reportedly raped a 12-year-old Colombian girl at a U.S. facility inside a Colombian base, and were whisked away from Colombia rather than face trial there. But Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez says U.S. soldiers will continue to enjoy such immunity under the accord.

Yesterday, Interior Minister Fabio Valencia Cossio timidly explained the Colombian government would "ask" Washington to lift the immunity of U.S. military personnel involved in cases of "grave" abuses. To me, it seems highly doubtful Colombian officials really care about this provision. And it is even more doubtful that they would press the Obama administration on the issue.

Finally, Lindsay-Poland keenly notes that the use of bases is another way for the Pentagon to get around congressional oversight. Since the multi-billion-dollar Plan Colombia was launched in 1999, human rights groups have worked hard to make U.S. funding for the Colombian military conditional on things like the human rights records of certain military units. Even these provisions have been mostly ignored, and the new plan opens an even larger backdoor for supporting an abusive local military that is mired in human rights scandals. The FPIF article adds that he U.S. presence in Colombian military bases constitutes a "revamping" Plan Colombia – despite its well-documented failure in reducing the drug trade – and lock it in for decades to come.

The Colombian government's leftist neighbors have understandably balked at the new plan. Ecuador, especially, has good reason to worry: The country was hit by a violent Colombian military raid last year that killed a rebel leader camped across the border. Hugo Chávez and Correa have not only expressed grave concern about the possibility of similar U.S.-backed cross-border attacks, but have also denounced the U.S. military presence as a Trojan Horse that could be used to spy on their countries. (One reason why the Colombian government is so pleased with the plan is that it gives the local military access to loads of cutting-edge spy technologies.)

Lindsay-Poland reprints a quote by Former Colombian Defense Minister Rafael Pardo who likened the deal to "lending your apartment's balcony to someone from outside your block so that he can spy on your neighbors."