BRASILIA, (Reuters) – Brazilian President Luiz Inacio  Lula da Silva told his Colombian counterpart yesterday  Bogota’s decision to allow an increase in U.S. troops in its  country was a sovereign matter, Brazil’s foreign minister  said.

After a meeting between Lula and President Alvaro Uribe,  Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told reporters Brazil had  requested more transparency on the plan and suggested Colombia  discuss it at the regional Unasur defense council on Monday.

“We reiterated that the agreement with the United States,  which is limited to Colombian territory, is something naturally  for Colombia’s sovereignty,” Amorim said.

Uribe’s plan to increase the number of U.S. troops in  Colombia has drawn opposition from moderate governments in the  region as well as from left-wing populist leaders.

Lula has expressed concern, saying he didn’t like the idea  of an American base in the area.

Uribe was meeting with South American leaders to try to  generate support for the U.S. plan to base anti-drug flights in  the world’s top cocaine producer after the U.S. military lost  access to a base in neighboring Ecuador.

Uribe and his foreign minister do not plan to attend the  defense council summit next week. The meeting will beheld in  Ecuador, which has broken off diplomatic relations with  Colombia over a 2008 bombing raid targeting Colombian rebels  who were camped out on Ecuador’s side of the border.