Source: Agencia Popular de Comunicación Suramericana
When [President] Bush introduced the strategy of “preventative war” against terrorism, the rules established in the post-war world changed fundamentally. The strategic objective of the United States became the control of all regions containing strategic resources. The Iraq War and subsequent actions demonstrated the arbitrariness of the empire and its partners.
In South America that control has been hindered by the failures of greater economic integration (FTAA). But in no way has it tempered the intentions of the U.S. for political and economic control. The installation of bases in strategic areas has been, and continues to be, a military objective. Other bases with diverse characteristics exist beyond the bases in Colombia (primary operations center of the Southern Command).
The political objective is the alignment of Latin America with the U.S. “antiterrorist” policy (a revamped National Security Doctrine for the new millennium), under the pretext of placing stubborn countries in the “axis of evil,” and thus marking them as enemies of the U.S. and NATO.
Like Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay, Argentina sits atop one of the largest reserves of fresh water in the world: the Guarani Aquifer. It is contained largely within the Rio de la Plata Basin, and it is therefore an economic and military objective of the United States.
For that reason it is alarming that a base or emergency center is being built by the U.S. Southern Command in the Argentine province of Chaco. The news, published by the government, revealed that the base will serve humanitarian aims, “…designed for natural emergencies such as floods or droughts, but it can be used as well for epidemics like dengue fever…”
This infrastructure will include the latest technology for the research and detection of natural disasters, since it will be connected to satellite stations that will monitor Argentine rivers and all other elements representing potential dangers that can cause natural disasters. As we can see, this base could control the Plata Basin, one of the military objectives of the Southern Command.
Ana Ester Ceceña has reported for several years that “…they currently talk of 725 recognized bases, but there are more. Some bases are secret and many settlements are provisional or can be dismantled, used for training or supposed social support for the local populations. The latter is the case for the operations of New Horizons, launched by the Southern Command of the U.S. Army, and training operations that generally are conducted in collaboration with local security forces but are directed by the Americans…”
It is not a coincidence that the base will be located at the airport of Resistencia [capital of the province of Chaco], where not only civilian aircraft but also military planes can land. This, plus its geopolitical position (almost in the center of the Guarani Aquifer), presents the location as ideal from a military perspective. Ana Esther Ceceña described this type of area as having mature state structures and legal norms, as well as having ‘seam’ countries, which play the role of buffer zones and of mediators for the disciplining of countries in the Third Region, called the gap, in which the danger areas are located, and where the United States must have an aggressive policy of surveillance, control and the imposition of norms of adequate operating standards (of states as well as of armies and security forces, of commerce and investments) for the establishment of a truly globalized system (See Pentagon’s New Map: http://thomaspmbarnett.squarespace.com/storage/pnm.jpg).
Although we can say that the staff on the base will be Argentine, the U.S. Southern Command will remain in charge of their training. What is not mentioned is which satellites will use the base, and that the U.S. will have access to economic and military information of Argentina.
The initiator of these negotiations was Earl Anthony Wayne, whose background includes “…combating the financing of terrorism, international energy policy, commerce, intellectual property and investment policy, international telecommunications policy, international transportation policy, supporting U.S. firms abroad…” (He was later sent to Afghanistan, and he is the current U.S. ambassador to Mexico.) If we consider all of these details, we find that none of them are by chance.