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.
