22/09/09
VENEZUELA SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN:
Unions Warn of Danger of New US-Colombia Military Agreement at British TUC Congress

Seconding a motion condemning continued attacks on trade union and human rights in Colombia at last week’s TUC, Unite the Union Executive Vice-Chair Steve Davison explained “that the US and Colombia are about to strike an agreement regarding seven military bases in Colombia,” posing a grave threat to progressive changes in neighbouring Venezuela and across Latin America.

Describing the “Bolivarian Revolution as the most progressive process in the world at this time,” Davison commented how “countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Brazil have been breaking out of the historical dominance by the US of the region.”

Whilst welcomed by trade unions and many others across the world, social progress in Latin America also threatens neo-liberalism across the world, as shown when “recent actions by the elected Honduras President to address poverty led to a military coup.”

Davison concluded by arguing that, in this regional context, these bases must be strongly opposed as they “will allow increased surveillance of the region, be utilized by the US for military air transport and will surely further deteriorate the human rights situation in Colombia itself.”

Venezuelan Ambassador in London, Samuel Moncada, also expressed his concerns about the US military bases in Colombia during a fringe meeting on Venezuela that took place at the TUC conference last week.

VSC Press Office