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CARIBBEAN: Military Bases Threaten Regional Stability
Dalia Acosta
- The United States is keeping a chain of military installations in the Caribbean basin, forming a potential danger to the peace and stability of the region, said experts meeting in Cuba.
This was the conclusion reached by analysts and delegates from various countries meeting in the Cuban capital during the eight days of the Fourteenth World Festival of Youth and Students, which ended Tuesday.
More than 11,300 young people from 131 countries attended the festival in Havana, inaugurated on July 28, and hundreds of them participated in the political debates of the “anti-imperialist tribunal.”
For the experts the continuing existence of the US military enclaves in the region appears “paradoxical” when the weapons currently available allow for rapid and accurate long-distance military responses.
The United States has 400 installations of this kind beyond its frontiers. These centres, as well as being used for army exercises, are destined to take a leading role in wars, conflicts, attacks or “simple warning manoevres,” said these sources.
“Why should the armed forces of the United States train their troops in tropical conditions similar to those of our countries?” Asked Ricardo Calvo, of the Cuban Centre of Disarmament and International Security Studies.
Calvo suggested the possibility of a new war or intervention in the area setting out from the activity of the US Jungle Operations Training Centre in Panama.
“This centre cost around 54 million dollars and it costs an extra three million dollars to operate it each year; however, the United States keeps it open,” he said.
The long history of military installations in the region includes a submarine trial and evaluation centre in Bahamas, an aircraft station in Panama, a naval base in Cuba and many enclaves in Honduras.
Vieques, a small island to the east of Puerto Rico, is home to the Garcia Camp, where the US military carry out target practice with live ammunition, leaving behind large amounts of lead and shrapnel.
“When the projectiles miss their target, they fall in the inhabited areas,” said one Viequan delegate at the Havana meeting.
Alejandro Torres, a Puerto Rican, said the United States looked on his country as “the Gibraltar of the Caribbean” taking over 13 percent of the island’s surface area for military use, including espionage.
Cuban experts said Washington’s security strategey continues to give special attention to the Caribbean area, which still maintains its role as “the strategic key and maritime frontier” of the United States.
“From their bases in southern Florida, the US armed forces are capable of carrying out combat airstrikes against the Cuban capital in less than 15 minutes,” added Calvo.
A report on the regional situation presented by Calvo stated the Atlantic Submarine Trial and Evaluation Centre in the Bahamas often received submarines and other vessels carrying nuclear warheads.
It added that in Panama, the US forces use some ammunition loaded with depleted uranium, recognised by the Defence Department as one of the probable causes of the “Gulf syndrome.”
The thirteen airstrips in Honduras and the whole system of bases in Panama allow the United States to “reinforce its theatre of military operations in a very short space of time,” said the analyst.
The experts meeting in Havana stressed that Washington keeps strict control on the air and sea movements of the area through the use of a wide network of radars and air and sea patrols.
Official sources in Cuba said at least 7,000 exploratory missions have been flown over the island in recent decades, signifying a threat to the civil aviation of the region.
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CARIBBEAN: Military Bases Threaten Regional Stability
Dalia Acosta
- The United States is keeping a chain of military installations in the Caribbean basin, forming a potential danger to the peace and stability of the region, said experts meeting in Cuba.
(more…)
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