Colombia and NATO

By Atilio A. Borón

From the Argentine newspaper Página 12

President Juan Manuel Santos’ announcement that in June he “will sign a cooperation agreement with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to show his willingness to join it” has caused a predictable commotion in Latin America.

Santos justified the news by saying that Colombia has the right “to think big,” adding that “if we achieve that peace” – referring to the ongoing talks in Cuba with the FARC, with the aid of Cuba, Norway and Venezuela – “our army will be in a better position to distinguish itself on an international level.”

To do that, what could be better than joining NATO, an organization on which weigh innumerable crimes of every type perpetrated in Europe (the bombing of the former Yugoslavia), Iraq, Libya and now Syria, collaborating with the terrorists who have taken that country by storm.

Until now, the only “extra NATO ally” in Latin America had been Argentina, which obtained that dishonorable status during the nefarious Menem years, after participating in the First Gulf War (1991-92).

The status of “extra NATO ally” was created in 1989 by the U.S. Congress as a mechanism to strengthen and legitimate its incessant military adventures with an aura of “multilateral consensus” that they don’t in fact have.

This incorporation of NATO’s extraregional allies is the child of the transformation of the U.S. armed forces from an army ready to wage wars in occupied territories to an imperial legion that, with its various military bases (more than 1,000 worldwide), its regular forces, its “rapid deployment” units and the growing army of “contractors” (i.e., mercenaries), needs to be prepared to intervene within hours to defend the interests of the United States in any hot spot in the world.

With his decision, Santos places himself at the service of that pernicious project.
Unlike Argentina (which in 2012 fortunately lost the status of “extra NATO ally,” the Colombian case is very special, because for decades it has received very valuable economic and military support from the United States, by far the largest country in the area.

When Santos declares his intention to project himself over “the whole world,” he means that he’s willing to become an accomplice of Washington to mobilize his well-armed forces beyond Colombian territory and intervene in the countries that the Empire is trying to destabilize. It’s no secret to anyone that the first country on that list is Venezuela.
The intention of the Colombian right, especially since the presidency of Álvaro Uribe Vélez, has been to become the “Israel of Latin America,” rising, with NATO’s backing, as the region’s regional policeman to attack neighbors who dare to oppose the imperial designs.

Of course, in view of the rejection generated by his statement, Santos had to order his Defense Minister, Juan Carlos Pinzón, to clarify that what Colombia wanted from NATO was “an agreement of cooperation on three specific issues: human rights, military justice and education for the troops.”

Pity the poor Colombia, if it turns to a criminal organization like NATO to get instruction on such subjects!

With his decision, Santos also irresponsibly compromises the peace conversations with the FARC in Havana, striking a hard blow to the expectations of the Colombian people, who for decades have wanted to put and end to the armed conflict.

How could the Colombian guerrillas trust a government that doesn’t cease to stress its meddlesome and militaristic vocation, now enabled by its sought-for alliance with an organization like NATO, with such criminal hues?

In addition, Santos’ decision cannot but weaken the processes of national integration and unification that are ongoing in Latin America and the Caribbean. What will UNASUR do now, and what will be the reaction of the South American Defense Council, whose mandate is to consolidate our region as a zone of peace, free from the presence of nuclear missiles or weapons of mass destruction? To do this, nations must build a policy of common defense and strengthen regional cooperation in that field.

President Evo Morales has called for an emergency meeting of UNASUR to deal with the issue, but without the decided support of Argentina and Brazil such a summons will hardly prosper.

Unquestionably, behind this decision by the Colombian president lies the hand of Washington, who converted NATO into a war-making device with worldwide reach, beyond the perimeter of the North Atlantic.

Just as evident was Obama’s directive to promote, shortly after the Pacific Alliance was launched – an effort to resuscitate the FTAA with another name – the provocative meeting between Santos and the Venezuelan putschist leader Henrique Capriles.

We can see a similar maneuver now, given the serious geopolitical implications of that initiative by ratcheting up Colombian-Venezuelan relations, by threatening its neighbors and forcing an increase in military spending in the region, by weakening UNASUR and CELAC, and siding with Britain in the dispute with Argentina over the Malvinas, given that that’s NATO’s official stance.

Anyone mentioning NATO cannot but recall that, as all specialists agree, the nerve and muscle of that organization are contributed by the United States, not the other member states, which are reduced to the pitiful role of pawns of the imperial boss.

In sum, a new turn of the screw by the imperialistic counteroffensive, which can be rejected only by a combination of the massive mobilization of the people and the resolute response of the genuinely democratic governments of the region, something that has barely been hinted at so far.

That’s one of the tests of fire that both sides will have to deal with in the next several weeks.

Atilio A. Boron is director of the Latin American Program for Long-distance Education in Social Sciences (PLED) of the “Floreal Gorini” Cultural Center for Cooperation, created for the purpose of promoting the development and diffusion of critical thought, an essential instrument to understand the problems of our time and to enable the gravitation of the multiple popular subjects that, in Latin America and the Caribbean, struggle in search of the economic, political and social emancipation of our peoples.