|
US military base |
Following the parliamentary impeachment of Dilma Rousseff (Brazil)
and Mauricio Macri’s arrival at the Pink House (Argentina), the United
States is desperately trying to increase its military presence in Latin
America, focussing particular attention on the South Cone. Peru, a
member state of the Pacific Alliance, is the most recent victim of
Washington’s imperial incursions. At the end of 2016, one of Peru’s
regional governments, the Amazonas, approved the establishment of a new
US military base that is being marketed to the public as a response
centre for natural disasters.
With just a few days to go before leaving the White House, Barack
Obama has decided not to waste the opportunity to strengthen the
deployment of US troops in South America. Indeed, [three parties] – one
of Peru’s regional governments (the Amazonas), the U.S. Southern Command
or SouthCom and the company Partenon Contratistas E.I.R.L. – have just
signed off a plan to set up a new military base, under the sheepskin of
the Centre for Operations for Regional Emergency (COER) in the Amazonas.
The funding for this centre will be just over $USD 1,350,000. With the
launch date for the project being 29 December 2016, it will be completed
in approximately 540 days.
According to information provided by the Peruvian government, the US
military base will have a heliport covering 625 m2; a two storey
building on the first floor of which will be a 1,000 m2 warehouse for
humanitarian aid. On the second floor, the COER will function together
with the operational modes (logistical, communications, monitoring and
analysis etc.); there will also be a conference room, a press room,
dormitories and a 800 m2 parking lot.
There can be no doubt: this is intervention wrapped under a blanket
of humanitarian aid. Quite contrary to the official line, it is not a
strategy driven to strengthen the Peruvian capacity to respond to
natural catastrophes. The United States is sinking its military claws
into the South Cone under the approving eye of Peru’s President, Pedro
Pablo Kuczynski. South American sovereignty is under threat.
The United States no longer needs to launch wars to conquer and
assert its hegemony on Latin American soil; now the region is brought to
heel by far subtler means: through initiatives of covert
militarization. In addition to its war against terrorism, Washington is
using the fight against drug trafficking and its alleged commitment to
respecting human rights as covers for intermeddling in the internal
affairs of other countries.
Peru is a vital platform to enable the United States to consolidate
its plan to dominate the whole of South America, an area, that, as we
already know, has immense reserves of natural strategic resources, (gas,
oil, metals, minerals etc.). At least during the last decade, South
American governments have inflicted a mighty blow to US economic and
political gravitation on the continent.
However, since 2009, Peru has not posed any resistance to
Washington’s imperial incursions which have converted it into one of the
countries in Latin America with the greatest presence of North American
armed forces on its territory: before approving the installation of
this new military base in the Department of the Amazonas, the US
SouthCom had already taken root in the regions of Lambayeque, Trujillo,
Tumbes, Piura, San Martín and Loreto.
It must be stressed that military cooperation between Washington and
Lima is not restricted to setting up military bases; the United States
has followed up by fully integrating itself into the [Peruvian] security
and defense apparatus. Pursuant to authorization by Peru’s Ministry of
Defense, special operation units of the Joint Command of Armed Forces,
the Command of Intelligence and Joint Special Operations and the Special
Unit, VRAEM, received training from US forces between May and September
2016.
In tandem, the Peruvian forces have led countless joint military
exercises with the United States. Their justification? To strengthen its
defence strategies against external aggression. One of the most
important operations is the Silent Forces Operation (SIFOREX, by its
English acronym). This operation takes place every two years in the Mar
de Grau and is considered one of the most important international naval
operations.
Peru is clearly aware that South America is sailing through turbulent
waters and is, at the same time, affronted by an aggressive campaign to
harass it. In addition to economic woes, the region is the victim of a
powerful offensive driven from outside that seeks, through all kinds of
means, to consolidate Washington’s presence.
US military incursions in the region are advancing at an accelerated
pace. This is partly due to several governments turning to the Right –
especially after Mauricio Macri assumed the presidency of Argentina, and
the parliamentary impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in Brazil–, and partly
due to the tireless effort to undermine the influence of countries such
as China, Russia and Iran.
Arming Peru right to the teeth, represents a vital pawn for the
United States to succeed, further down the line, in setting up other
military bases in Argentina, at its border with Brazil and Paraguay.
Undoubtedly, building a better future for South American countries
confronts a serious danger…
Source: Global Research |