Chávez Welcomes Santos’ Decision to Cancel Delivery of Military Bases to the U.S.

“Most people in the region will be able to breathe a sigh of relief. Rationality, common sense and responsibility have prevailed,” the Venezuelan President declared.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez welcomed the decision of his Colombian counterpart, Juan Manuel Santos, not to submit to the Colombian Congress the agreement to allow American soldiers to use seven Colombian military bases. “Most people in the region will be able to breathe a sigh of relief. Rationality, common sense and responsibility have prevailed,” the Venezuelan President told the newspaper Últimas Noticias.

Santos’ decision follows an August judgment by the Colombian Constitutional Court that the agreement signed by Colombian ex-President Álvaro Uribe in October 2009 could not come into force before the Colombian Congress had approved it.

The agreement, officially entitled “Supplemental Agreement for Cooperation and Technical Assistance in Defense and Security Between the Governments of the United States of America and the Republic of Colombia,” allowed American troops and contractors to have access to at least seven bases and to civilian airports in Colombia, which Chávez branded a direct menace to his country and to others in the region.

In an interview with the Caracas newspaper in Libya, the penultimate stop in his 11-day international tour that ends in Portugal, Chávez said that he was not surprised by the decision of Santos, with whom he had recently met to renew bilateral diplomatic relations suspended in the latter part of Uribe’s term of office.

“It is consistent with signals received from the new government and with the new situation in that country,” the Venezuelan leader added, while stressing that he had never set as a condition for renewal of bilateral relations that Santos should take such a decision. “The withdrawal of the bases wasn’t a condition; we respect Colombia’s sovereignty” to make decisions on such matters, even though the agreement was signed by Uribe due to the fact that he “was acting within the war strategy of the Pentagon,” said Chávez.

The Vice President of the Colombian Senate, Alexandra Moreno, said last Thursday that Santos had informed her and other congressmen of his decision. “The President indicated to us that he is not going to pursue the matter in Congress, that he is going to leave things as they are … The agreement collapsed when the Constitutional Court said that it had to be obligatorily submitted to Congress, and this hasn’t been done, hence at the moment there is no agreement along these lines for military cooperation,” she indicated.

“There is a 180-degree change in President Santos, and the priority will no longer be war, conflict and the military; I believe that Colombia will emphasize issues relating to the environment, human needs and the competitiveness of the country,” added Moreno.