The Union of South American Nations’ Defense Council will meet Friday to discuss Colombia’s role in a supposed case of spying on Venezuela, Ecuador, and Cuba.
Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Fander Falconi called for the meeting due to “documents that came to our country through intelligence sources, signaling that [Colombian intelligence agency] the DAS has intervened in the three countries.” He went on to say that when “one government spies on another it is terrible and extremely serious.”
Falconi called for the meeting in Quito due to the growing concern that Ecuador and other South American countries have over the agreement between the United States and Colombia allowing the former access to seven military bases in Colombia. The objective of the meeting is to “lower the tension” that has arisen between certain governments such as Colombia and Venezuela, and Chile and Peru, with the latter caused by a supposed case of espionage on Chile’s part.
Falconi denied his Colombian counterpart Jamie Bermudez’s earlier assessment of the situation when Bermudez expressed his dismay at UNASUR’s lack of respect regarding the border and security conflicts between Venezuela and Colombia.
“The clearest response [to Bermudez] is the fact that we’re having this meeting Friday,” Falconi said. “It is absurd to make this comment when UNASUR is creating possibilities through measures of trust and security precisely to calm the current problems.”
It is expected that foreign and defense ministers from all of UNASUR’s member countries will participate in the Defense Council’s meeting on Friday November 27. These countries are: Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guayana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay and Venezuela.