Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Shapiro Travels to Colombia and Brazil

[Judi Lynn]

Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Shapiro Travels to Colombia and Brazil

Media Note
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC

May 27, 2011

Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew J. Shapiro will travel to Colombia and Brazil, May 30-June 3.

While in Colombia May 30-31, Assistant Secretary Shapiro will visit Tolemaida Airbase to observe Colombian training activities and will meet with senior civilian and military officials in Bogota to build on security cooperation initiatives aimed at meeting shared security challenges.

In Brazil June 1-3, Assistant Secretary Shapiro will hold consultations in Rio de Janeiro, then will lead the U.S. delegation at the U.S.-Brazil Political-Military Dialogue in Brasilia.

In Rio de Janeiro, Assistant Secretary Shapiro will deliver a speech at the Superior War College to a group comprised of military officers and professors. In Brasilia, the Assistant Secretary will engage with Brazilian interlocutors on a variety of issues, building on the success of the previous dialogue, held in 2006 in Washington, D.C.

The U.S.-Brazil Political-Military Dialogue focuses on a wide range of political-military issues, including shared strategic challenges in the region and continuing efforts to enhance partnerships in security cooperation, defense capacity building, and peacekeeping.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/05/164602.htm

[Judi Lynn]

1. Re: Colombian air bases, from SOA Watch:

Colombia
Larandia Air Base (Florencia), Caquetá

Tolemaida Air Base (Nilo), Melgar, Tolima (Advanced Operations Base)

ARC Málaga Naval Base, Bahía Málaga, Buenaventura

Tres Equinas Air Base, Caquetá

ARC Bolivar Naval Base, Cartagena

Palanquero Air Base, Puerto Salgar, Cundinamarca

Malambo Air Base (Alberto Pawells Rodriguez), Barranquilla

Apiay Air Base (Capitan Luis Fernando Gomez Niño), Meta

Arauca Military Base

Construction of Flandes, Tolima

Turbo port installations for Fourth Fleet

Despite the Colombian court's decision in August of 2010 to stike down the U.S.-Colombia military base agreement, the Pentagon has initiated unprecedented levels of construction on at least three bases - Bahía Malaga, Tolemaida and Larandia. Since the disintegration of the base agreement, it is hard to measure the extent of U.S.´s military plans in Colombia, but local reports indicate high levels of continued intervention. In 2010, the Pentagon planned to invest $46 million in Palanquero, a vast air base with long-range transport aircraft capacity, explaining it would give the U.S. an opportunity to conduct full spectrum operations throughout South America.

http://www.soaw.org/take-action/bridges-not-bases/233-bridges-not-bases/3612-colombia