U.S. looking to Colombian base in drug war

BOGOTA, July 17 (UPI) -- Colombian and U.S. officials are working on a plan that would allow U.S. drug interdiction efforts in the region to use air bases in Colombia.

After Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa said two years ago he wouldn't renew a license that expires in November under which the United States operates anti-drug-trafficking flights from Ecuador's Manta air base, U.S. officials began to look for other locations to host flights used in fighting drug-trafficking.

Hundreds of flights a year originated from Manta and were credited with forcing the region's cartels to use boats rather than airplanes to move the bulk of their illegal drugs.

In April, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield said activities at Manta would move to Colombia, with a base near Puerto Salgar a potential staging site.

A July 15 announcement on the Colombian Foreign Ministry Web site outlined a possible agreement with the Americans, saying the plan would represent "bilateral cooperation to fortify the fight against drug-trafficking, terrorism and other crimes of an international character."

Key points of the Foreign Ministry statement said the agreement assured sovereign equality and territorial integrity.

It also allows the United States "the use and access (of) limited facilities within some Colombian military bases, with … strict protocols of security and exclusively for the activities" mutually agreed to.

The release very pointedly stated that the United States couldn't establish a military base in Colombia, that unilateral U.S. operations aren't allowed and that the agreement doesn't "imply transit for foreign troops."

That part of the diplomatic dance was meant to show that Colombian officials aren't being controlled by their U.S. counterparts, an idea that is a very sensitive issue in Colombia.

The depth of U.S. involvement in Colombian affairs may become a major debate point in the 2010 presidential elections. Challenger Rafael Pardo has argued that the government of President Alvaro Uribe is too influenced by the United States.

But the United States wants to protect the investment it has made in drug interdiction through the counter-narcotics Plan Colombia. A U.S. Government Accountability Office report from October 2008 said U.S. assistance to the Colombian military and National Police amounted to nearly $4.9 billion since fiscal year 2000 with another $1.3 billion for non-military programs.

The GAO said a Plan Colombia goal of reducing cultivation, processing and distribution of narcotics by 50 percent from 2000-06 "was not fully achieved, however, major security advances have been made." The report said opium poppy and heroin production was down about 50 percent in the period, but coca cultivation was 15 percent greater in 2006 than in 2000 and cocaine production was up 4 percent. Interdiction efforts were cited for the differences in cultivation and production percentages.

However, the GAO also said the U.S. State Department "anticipates that billions of dollars in additional aid will need to be provided to Colombia through at least 2013 to help achieve a desired endstate where drug, security, social and economic welfare and civil society problems reach manageable levels."