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NATO Tango
In These Times |
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- The renewed U.S. interest in Colombia's civil war has made the country's neighbors suspicious of Washington's motives. In the wake of the Kosovo conflict, South American leaders are wondering if the next international military intervention might take place in their own backyard. At the same time, now that U.S. troops are pulling out of Panama, the military may be looking for a new strategic partner in the hemisphere. Their most likely ally: Argentina.
Argentina is already the only country in Latin America that is an associate member of NATO (the others in the world are Australia, New Zealand, Israel and Egypt). President Carlos Menem gladly sent 250 soldiers to Kosovo in June, and offered to send double that amount. Ever since the Balkan bombing ended, Argentina has been practically begging for full NATO membership, to the dismay of all its neighbors.
In July, Menem's request to become a full NATO member was denied. But the rejection may only make Argentina more eager to please the United States, in keeping with Menem's policy toward Washington. At the behest of the United States, Argentina participated in American interventions in Iraq and more recently was part of the U.N. force in East Timor. The two countries occasionally perform joint military exercises.
Menem made clear his country's support for U.S. initiatives in Colombia, when U.S. drug czar Barry McCaffrey came to Buenos Aires in late August to discuss "regional strategic affairs." Menem offered political and military support to the United States, and dissuaded McCaffrey from pursuing a negotiated peace agreement in favor of forceful intervention-just what Clinton's envoy wanted to hear.
Menem will leave office in December after 10 years in power. One of the cornerstones of his presidency has been a strengthening of economic and political relations with the developed world. Argentina, which boasts one of the strongest economies in the region, has become popular with the International Monetary Fund and Wall Street for its fiscal policies that favor foreign investment. "Instead of playing the loser and playing with the poor of the world," says Thomas Scheetz, an American professor and military analyst who has lived in Argentina for the past 15 years. "It was decided that they ought to play with the powerful of the world and then become part of it."
Looking to preserve its alliance with Argentina, during his visit McCaffrey also met with the country's two main presidential contenders: Eduardo Duhalde of the ruling Peronist Party and Buenos Aires Mayor Fernando De La Rua, the likely winner. Argentina's relationship to the United States is always a campaign issue, but neither candidate has endorsed U.S. intervention in Colombia as eagerly as Menem.
As the United States gropes about for a strategic partner for some possible intervention in Colombia, Argentina's alignment with the United States on military issues is making many others in the region nervous. The countries that border Colombia do not want to intervene there, and deny the U.S. claim that the conflict in Colombia is principally a drug war. "If at some point there was a need to intervene with an international peacekeeping force in Colombia, would it be the United Nations or the Organization of American States?" asks Rosendo Fraga, director of the Union for a New Majority, a local think tank for regional military affairs. "What's the standard? Can NATO play a role or not? These are debates that we now have to face after Kosovo, and for now, there are not any clear answers."
While Argentina has promised to send troops to Colombia if requested by the United States, Brazil, Peru and other South American countries have been stepping up talks on creating regional military alliances to counterbalance the power of NATO as a global gendarme. When Washington tested the waters for military cooperation with Brazil, President Rafael Cardoso said he opposed outside intervention in Colombia. A week later, he backpedaled, saying he'd rather see South American troops come to help than a force led by Washington.
Fernando Roman of the human rights group HIJOS cautions that the United States already has a bad track record. "With the same pretext they used to finance their dirty war in Nicaragua," he says, "they're going to create a new Vietnam, claiming they're going to fight narco-trafficking."
The American public may or may not believe the United States has national security concerns in Colombia. But if Washington plans to increase its involvement, it's going to have to do a lot more work to convince this half of the Americas.
© 1999 Institute for Public Affairs