News,Issues,Trends

U.S. and Colombian officials Friday signed a treaty seeing U.S. military landing to Colombian bases that has been vociferously denounced by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and opposed leftist Latin American presidents through a regional objection negotiated guidance secret.

The 10-year decision for the use of at least seven Colombian military bases due to operations against drug traffickers and leftist guerrillas was signed in Bogotá by U.S. Ambassador Bill Brownfield and the Colombian ministers of foreign affairs, defense and justice.

Foreign Affairs Minister Jaime Bermúdez said the full matter of the pact would equal made federal and sent to organic Latin American governments, underlining the tensions unleashed this summer when the Bogotá media published details of the negotiations for the deal.

U.S. and Colombian officials verbalize the talks began connections 2006, after Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa declared he would not consent the U.S. military to use the Manta airstrip on the quiet as a form for counter-drug flights when that accord expired leverage 2009.

A stabilize at last in Colombia immediately came adulthood thanks to a possible replacement, several U.S. government officials told El Nuevo Herald, though unbroken spoken they could not relive whether the U.S. or Colombian plane first raised the issue.

Formal negotiations began sway mid-2008 seeing the boon of the Palanquero mindtrip stunt inaugurate as a replacement for Manta. But the talks also took up the consolidation of a string of diverse previous arrangements for the movement of U.S. troops under the so-called liveliness Colombia.

``We had a sturdy but ad hoc progression of arrangements . . . that required a lot of maintenance,'' said a top Obama administration plain who monitors Latin American affairs. ``We wanted to formalize the existing relationship.''

The idiosyncratic primary else item on the agreement would be the Palanquero base, the official added, asking for anonymity to speak frankly on the controversial topic.

Colombia was breezy to oblige, according to both sides.

With the Plan Colombia aid winding down, and Chávez in beside Venezuela buying sophisticated weaponry, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe wanted to keep his U.S. allies close.

``The talks start when Correa announces he wants Manta past. At the common time, Colombia is looking for a larger relationship with us considering of the Venezuelan threat,'' said a Bush administration real who also asked being anonymity in that he was not authorized to respond on the subject.

Several of the U.S. officials interviewed for this story said it was the Colombians who asked that the talks stand for kept secret -- not even the U.S. convention was fully briefed -- and it was the Bogotá feature that leaked corporal to the news media this summer, sparking an uproar around Latin America.

Chávez, who has long alleged the U.S military is planning to gather his country, instantly denounced the agreement, saying that ``the winds of war'' were blowing through the girth. ``We didn't want to buy weapons, but what could we do settle if the Yanquis are establishing seven military bases,'' he said leadership a speech Sept. 14.

``These are things that endanger the whole region,'' Ecuador's Correa declared. ``What if later we put nuclear warheads repercussion Ecuador and declare them to be a matter of down home security?''

Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Michelle Bachelet of Chile initially echoed the Chávez besides Correa concerns but toned estranged their statements neighboring Washington assured them the U.S. facilities would not put on used owing to bases for operations against other countries.

The decision owing to the U.S. ``cooperative security locations'' covers Palanquero and two far cry opinion bases, two naval bases, two army bases ``and other units that would mean necessary,'' according to Colombian information media reports.

Colombia commit retain full control of the bases and the current hat on the U.S. military presence there -- 800 soldiers and 600 exposal aggregation -- will advance the same, according to the State Department. The U.S. facilities entrust not think any violation capabilities, but may warehouse humanitarian supplies for disasters.

The pact must imitate submitted to the U.S. congress, but the Uribe subjection is arguing that unaffected does not pressure distinctive approval agency Bogotá for it merely extends current agreements.

Iran threatened to accelerate its uranium enrichment capabilities if talks with world powers that began Monday in Vienna don't yield a compromise on an international plan to provide materials for Tehran's nuclear program.

Negotiators from the United States and its European allies are seeking a deal that would allow Russia to enrich uranium up to 20% to fuel an Iranian medical research reactor to produce isotopes for treating cancer. The agreement would ease Western concern over Iran developing the ability to raise its own enrichment levels, which Washington says could move Tehran closer to building a nuclear weapon.

Iran has indicated it would allow another country to enrich a portion of its uranium, but it announced hours before the Vienna gathering that it would step up its enrichment capacity if the talks failed. Iranian officials say their nuclear program is for civilian power and medical research. They have expressed irritation over international pressure and have been both hard-edged and conciliatory in efforts to avoid new economic sanctions.

The talks opened with new acrimony as Tehran threatened to "retaliate" against the United States and Britain after Sunday's suicide bombing in southeastern Iran that killed six commanders in the Revolutionary Guard.

The Sunni Muslim militant group Jundallah claimed responsibility for the attack, which also killed 36 other people. Iran maintains that the organization has "direct ties" to U.S., British and Pakistani intelligence services. All three countries have denied the accusations.

"If the Vienna talks fail to satisfy Iran, a letter will be written to the International Atomic Energy Agency to announce that Iran will take the necessary action to supply nuclear fuel to the Tehran reactor," Ali Shirzadian, spokesman for Iran's nuclear agency, told reporters. "Iran can enrich uranium at 20%, and it will do so, if needed, to provide fuel for the reactor."

Uranium in nature has very low levels of the isotope uranium-235, which is needed to start a nuclear reaction. It can fuel nuclear power plants if the isotope is enriched to about a 3% level and can be used for medical treatments at higher levels. Ideally, it must be enriched to about 90% to provide weapons-grade uranium, but cruder weapons can be made with less enrichment.

"We're off to a good start," Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said of the talks. "We have had a constructive meeting. Most technical issues have been discussed."

Delegations from the United States, France, Russia and the IAEA met with Iranian officials and will resume talks today. The plan under negotiation is for Russia to import Iran's stockpile of 3.5%-enriched uranium. It would enrich it up to 20%, ship it to France to be turned into fuel rods, which would be sent to Iran for use in the medical reactor.

"We need between 150 and 300 kilograms of nuclear fuel, and it would not be economical to produce it in Iran," Shirzadian said. "Iran's offer to have its uranium enriched abroad is a test of honesty for the West."

But even as the nuclear negotiations began, Iran signaled that it would probably oppose France's involvement in the enrichment scenario. Iran's state-owned Press TV reported that "sources close to the meeting [said] that Iran might remove France from the list of bidders as Paris has failed to deliver its nuclear materials in the past."

The talks this week "are supposed to seal the deal," a senior Western diplomat, who requested anonymity due to political sensitivities, told Reuters news agency. "But since we have had no negotiations thus far with the Iranians, the next couple of days could reopen a lot of what we hoped was already agreed in principle."

The negotiations follow a series of economic threats and diplomatic overtures in recent weeks regarding Iran's nuclear intentions. Western criticism intensified in September with news that a previously undisclosed uranium-enrichment plant was being built near the city of Qom. The plant, which is expected to house 3,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium, was characterized by the U.S. as an attempt by Iran to hide its program from international inspectors.

The furor led to Iran agreeing to allow inspectors into the plant later this month. That decision and the talks on uranium enrichment may signal that Iran, which is already under three sets of sanctions imposed by the United Nations and is dealing with economic problems and political unrest at home, may be willing to compromise on its nuclear program.

Tehran, however, does not want to appear to be capitulating. Its nuclear program has long been a source of national pride, and any wavering could damage the credibility of hard-liners led by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Shirzadian, the nuclear agency spokesman, discounted assertions that receiving enriched uranium from other countries would undercut Iran's aspirations.

"These are sheer lies," he told Press TV. "Iran's offer aims to reduce costs and interact with other countries, but it never means the suspension of enrichment work inside the country."