The United States will not approach to the borders with Venezuela
and Ecuador while operating inside Colombia to battle the production
and trafficking of illicit drugs, U.S. ambassador William Brownfield
told newspaper El Tiempo.
Colombia’s neighboring countries Venezuela and Ecuador reject the new pact between Colombia and the U.S. that allows the north Americans to use Colombians army bases for counter narcotics operations.
But according to Brownfield, the U.S. guarantees it will not conduct any operations near the borders of neighbors unless there is agreement with the government of the neighboring country.
“I can guarantee you that any of our activity, under this bilateral agreement, will not approach the borders without the specific authorization of all involved governments,” Brownfield told the newspaper.
“If, hypothetically speaking, both governments request a U.S. mission, we would consider it in that circumstance, but without the explicit and probably written request of these governments, we wouldn’t do it. We wouldn’t even be close to the borders.”
According to the ambassador, the U.S. intends to only provide intelligence services to Colombian military actions and will not actively take part in combat missions.
The military pact has caused concerns in South America, especially among neighboring countries like Venezuela and Ecuador. The leftist governments of these neighbors consider an expansion of U.S. military activity in Colombia a threat to their sovereignty.