Deployment of US warships and marines approved in Costa Rican parliament

Has Costa Rica Rolled Over To The US?
By John Holtz*

With the massive amount of US military on the way to Costa Rica, has our country rolled over and now admitted that it has lost control of the trafficking of drugs, money laundering and crime in general?

Ever since I can remember Costa Rica has said, “If ever invaded, it´s neighbors would come to its rescue.”

In times past that referred to Venezuela, but now we have Chavez and….well that´s another 100 pesos.

The new friendly neighbor must be the United States who is sending 46 war ships, 200 helicopters and 7,000 Marines to rescue us from invading drug cartels, smugglers, gangs and God only knows what all because the “mission” has not really been clearly defined. If there is a mission, it has not been made public, or the deployment strategy.

For all those promises of transparency by our government, once again we are living in an opaque world and can only make wild assumptions that for sure are going to get bigger and more bizarre.

(I wonder what Nobel Peace Laureate, Oscar Arias thinks of all this? We will soon know.)

For the last several days the Minister of Security, Jose Maria Tijerino, the anti-drug commissioner , Mauricio Boraschi and of course Presidenta, Laura Chinchilla have been doing a lot of tap dancing to explain this extraordinary, desperate last resort type measure.

And before the Marines buy out all the condoms of the world after being told prostitution is legal in Costa Rica, I assure you a bunch of legal challenges before this will ever comes to fruition. Although, in 1999 then President, now on trial for corruption, Miguel Angel Rodriguez signed into law a “Joint Patrol” agreement with the United States to crack down on drug trafficking as well as money laundering.

(Why a “Joint Patrol”, Didn´t anyone in 1999 know what a joint is? There must be a better name than “operation Joint” as they probably call it back at Langley.)

What makes this so unique is that the “Joint Patrol” is a US Coast Guard operation and every US vessel would have a Costa Rica “shiprider” who would authorize or not authorize actions to be taken or not taken in Costa Rica territorial waters.

From a practical point of view, I have a hard time visualizing our police force leading 7,000 on the ground US Marines, less the helicopters and warships. Especially if you consider these men and women of Fuerza Pública refuse to go into certain parts of San José for fear of their lives. (Maybe the US can send in drones like in Afghanistan and eliminate those bad guys?)

So, let´s step up and be honest. The Gringos are going to run this show. It is in our blood.

Promises have also been made that the US military people will do humanitarian work as well as get the cartel traffickers. What that means? Again, I have no idea. (Teach us the secret recipe of Sloppy Joe sandwiches because Habitat for Humanity is building homes and the Peace Corps teaching basketball?)

For years, at least since the Sandinistas came into power in Nicaragua, the US has wanted a military base in Costa Rica and……Wow? Merry Christmas!

From the public´s point of view this is all very sudden and smacks of back room politics.

It also smacks of our leaders losing faith in our security people; in our judicial system, the 21 police agencies, the department of immigration and indeed the question is how high and how deep the corruption goes? That´s what needs an overhaul and not bringing in foreign military to save us from us.

continued here: http://www.insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2010/july/05/costarica10070501.htm

On November 9 Senator Bill Nelson of Florida spoke out against drilling for oil off his state's coast, saying "many of the activities at Florida military bases, including testing missile and drone systems and training pilots, depend on the vast open stretches of ocean, much of it restricted airspace."

He mentioned that the Gulf of Mexico is "the largest testing and training area for the U.S. military in the world." [22]

A Cuban analysis of three years ago described the overall American military blueprint for Latin America and the Caribbean:

"The United States has a system of bases that has managed to establish two areas of control:

"1. The circle formed by the Caribbean islands, the Gulf of Mexico and Central America, which covers the largest oil deposits in Latin America, and is formed by the bases of Guantanamo, Reina Beatriz, Hato Rey, Lampira, Roosevelt, Palmerola, Soto Cano, Comalapa and other lesser military posts.

"2. The circle that surrounds the Amazon basin, downward from Panama, where the canal, the region’s wealth and the location of an entry to South America have been essential, and which is formed by the bases of Manta [closed by Ecuador this July], Larandia, Tres Esquinas, Cano Limon, Marandua, Riohacha, Iquitos, Pucallpa, Yurimaguas and Chiclayo, which in their turn are linked to those of the region further north...." [23]

The U.S. strategy to control the Amazon Basin and the Andean region depends on Colombia on the northwest of the South American continent and on obtaining bases and military allies further south. Peru is one such likely location and so is another which is at loggerheads with it, Chile.