Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Saturday announced his government will publicize the military agreement signed with the United States Friday.
According to Uribe, the signed ‘Complementary Agreement for cooperation and technical assistance in defense and security’ will be made known to the world the coming week by Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez.
The President, speaking at a security council in the Tolima department, stressed his government’s “cards on the table” policy and said his government wants the “national and international community to know this text from beginning to end.”
Uribe reiterated the importance of the agreement with the U.S. in order to be able to defeat “narcoterrorism.”
The deal, allowing the U.S. to use at least seven military bases on Colombian soil, is controversial Latin America as neighbors Venezuela and Ecuador consider and increase of U.S. military presence a threat to their sovereignty. Inside Colombia the deal is controversial, because the Government refuses to send it to Congress for ratification, claiming it adds nothing to already existing deals.