Ecuador and Venezuela denounce U.S. military bases in Latin America

By Rodrigo Ortiz

Venezuela Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez denounced the existence of U.S. military bases in Latin American Thursday at the third annual Latin American Summit of Progressive Movements in Quito.

Fromer Ecuador Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño

According to Rodriguez, the bases only provoke conflict in the region. “We denounce the presence of 70 U.S. bases in our region, we have to unite and demand their closing,” said Rodriguez.

Ecuador’s former foreign minister Ricardo Patiño echoed Rodriguez’s message, warning that “imperialist powers of the north” will continue to attack the progressive forces in Latin America.

“But we are stronger today,” said Patiño. “We need to be better organized to be able to defend ourselves.”

Patiño recalled the decision of Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa to close the U.S. navy base in Manta in 2007. When faced with criticism, Correa said he would allow a U.S. base in Ecuador to remain if the U.S. would allow an Ecuadorian navy base in Miami.

Rodriguez also spoke about the attacks against the progressive governments in the region by the new conservative leaders in Argentina and Brazil, with the support of what he called colonialist and imperialist forces.

“Right-wing governments in the region are franchises of the U.S. Pentagon and the Department of State, and their goal is destroying what the left has achieved,” said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez said she hopes the region “could soon count, once again, on Argentina and Brazil to work on a stronger integration.”

The foreign cited what he called “the sovereignty struggles of Venezuela” that late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez referred to.

“More than to rethink the integration process in the region, we have to defend it, we need to build a pluri-polar and multi-centered world like Chavez talked about,” said Rodriguez.

Earlier, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa urged representatives attending the Quito meeting to “build a bulwark against the elements of neoliberalism who would return us to the old ways of governance in Latin America.”

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Credit: Global Research: www.globalresearch.ca