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thedrifter
04-23-06, 09:17 AM
US Marines Trying to Reclaim Former Backyard?
By Marina Menendez Quintero (with the Juventud Rebelde newspaper)
mmenendez@jrebelde.cip.cu

If all the reasons put forward by the US for its military presence in Latin America and the Caribbean were believable, at any moment we could expect to see US soldiers, armed to the teeth, anywhere in the region.

Chris Loundermon, the spokesperson for the US Southern Command, for example, has justified the Caribbean as a location for the spectacular military exercises —dubbed Partnership of the Americas— currently taking place, claiming an unusual fondness of US troops for warm weather. It is as if the marines come from the tropics rather than the North. However, being familiar with their arrogance, we know they care little for the authenticity of their statements.

Most important to them is to update their military knowledge of the region in order to be ready to respond should any of their bothersome neighbors upset them.

A few months ago, the presence of hundreds of US troops in Paraguay was justified with a repetitive speech alluding to the fashionable "war on terror" and the old lie that Al-Qaeda is on the Triple Frontier.

Following, they came up with an even worse pretext for stationing US marines in Barahona in the Dominican Republic, claiming that they were there to build public facilities such as medical clinics. This, however, will not be the only US project in this country where they have already undertaken several different "training" missions with their colleagues that have been met with public protest, including a permanent protesters camp across from the place where they are stationed.
Now, yet another announcement tells of new joint training operations in that country, this time, to practice hurricane emergency plans! Wow!.

Drug trafficking first, then terrorism, and now it seems that illegal migration and even local crime are being turned by the US into potential dangers, so as to be included in its national security agenda.

Undoubtedly, any excuse is fine with them; some are worth recalling. Just a few days ago, they finished military maneuvers in Jamaica called Trade Winds, which were announced as security preparations for the 2007 Cricket World Cup.

Whether the Machiavellian economic association networks, with which Washington attempts to keep Latin America and the Caribbean under its thumb, have failed or not, the truth is that the US has never given up their intentions of exercising military control over the region.

Far-sighted analysts and politicians have been alerting to this situation for a long time.
The unusual coincidence of joint military maneuvers being staged under the pretext of strengthening ties with their friends in the region is preceded by the allegedly temporary concession of the Manta military base by Ecuador. Such maneuvers have been common practice by the US whenever it opens or retakes military bases.
Curacao, Paraguay, and the Dominican Republic itself could add other bases. And, that is without including the benefits that the Pentagon has obtained from keeping its advisors for more than three years in the Andean region by virtue of the Colombia Plan.

One of their real interests is to gain control over resources such as oil, water, and bio-diversity. They also seek to closely watch, and be on the ready to intervene and halt, any emerging social movements.

Of course, the way invasion is undertaken can have many variations. According to the Chilean newspaper La Tercera, the FBI is training intelligence agents to create an "anti-terrorist" task force.

Everything indicates that the Bush administration is listening to many experts —including several senators, the head of the US Southern Command, and Condoleezza Rice herself— who have warned that there has been too much concentration on the Middle East leading to the neglect of the US’ former backyard.

This may explain why the hypocritically named Partnership of the Americas war-games are the first to be staged on such a large scale over the last three years. More than 6,000 marines have returned aboard the giant George Washington aircraft carrier. In addition to tanks, planes, and helicopters, the maneuvers are also featuring the Monterrey cruiser, the Stout destroyer, and the Underwood missile-carrier frigate, according to media reports.

Acting "diplomatically" as usual, Kenneth J. Glueck, the US Southern Command's Chief of Staff, has been more sincere this time and confessed these operations are just an "opportunity for us to touch base with our partner countries."

Ellie