At the summit of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) to be held in the city of Bariloche, Argentina, Evo Morales, the President of Bolivia, will propose a continental referendum on the establishment of US military bases in Colombia. In recent declarations he has called for a defence of the interests of Latin American peoples.

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Pressenza, Coipasa, 2009-08-27

"If the Government of Colombia does not wish to remove the military bases from Colombia, why not hold a referendum in South America (...) so that the people and not the empire can decide?", Evo Morales said during a public act in Coipasa.

Morales declared that the establishment of military bases is a provocation by the United States to generate conflict between countries and obstruct South American integration.

He also stated that governments "should defend the country's and the people's interests and hence territorial sovereignty and natural resources", and added that Latin American peoples possess enough natural resources not to be conditioned by the decisions and impositions of world powers.

On another occasion Morales said that during the time of US military presence in Bolivia under the pretext of the fight against narcotics traffic the dignity of Bolivia was impaired, and that after the departure of the US Drug Enforcement Agency, the fight against drug traffic was more efficient.

Source: Pulsar/ABI

(Translation provided by James Williamson)

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