The Colombian senator and opposition leader Ivan Cepeda threatened this Monday to take legal action against the national Executive, denouncing that the government allowed the entry and deployment of troops and military infrastructure of the United States in national territory without the prior approval of Congress.
Through his official channels, the parliamentarian – who contested the presidency in the last elections against the president Abelardo de la Espriella— questioned the operational maneuvers recorded at the end of August in the southwest of the country, pointing out the omission of the institutional controls provided for in the constitutional order.
“In my capacity as Senator of the Republic, I have not been consulted about the entry and permanence of foreign troops in the air and land space of the country, as well as about military operations with the United States in national territory. This military intervention has occurred without the authorization of the Senate, which must be requested as ordered by article 173, paragraph 4 of the Constitution,” Cepeda asserted.
The opposition’s complaint is based on the overflights of helicopters of the United States Marine Corps in the municipality of Tumaco, department of Nariño, recorded on August 27 and later ratified through graphic material by the US Southern Command (Southcom).
The air maneuvers coincided with a high-level meeting in Tumaco between the head of the Southern Command, Francis Donovan, and the Colombian Minister of Defense, Jorge Eduardo Mora, aimed at coordinating the interdiction of drug trafficking and organized crime on the Pacific coast.
Previously, the US military delegation held meetings in Bogotá with the leadership of the Military Forces to evaluate anti-drug operations in areas bordering Ecuador.
The operational deployment coincides with the formal incorporation of Colombia into the Coalition of the Americas Against Cartels (A3C), a multilateral initiative promoted by the US administration to articulate intelligence and containment strategies against transnational criminal organizations in the hemisphere.
