Colombian and U.S. officials are meeting this weekend to close a deal that will allow the U.S. to use Colombian military bases for counternarcotics operations in South America, Armed Forces commander Freddy Padilla said Tuesday.
According to Caracol Radio, Padilla said a commission of high officials of the Foreign Affairs, Defense and Interior and Justice Ministries will travel to Washington towork on the last details of the pact.
"We hope that this weekend the deal is completely closed," Padilla told Congress, debating the pact, Tuesday evening.
Newscast CM&, that said to have insight in a summary of the deal, said the pact reiterates that the pact "does not include new obligations for the Colombian State outside the orbit of powers of the President ..., so it does not require congressional approval or control by the Constitutional Court."
The agreement reiterates that "there will be no bases of the United States of any kind and under any definition in Colombia."
The U.S.-Colombian pact caused friction in South America. Neighbors Ecuador and Venezuela consider the increased presence of U.S. military a threat and also Bolivia, Brazil and Chile expressed their concern.
