Uribe’s present absence

Colombia will be strangely absent from UNASUR… of which it is a member. ‘A meeting of the fledgling Union of South American Nations in Quito, Ecuador’s capital, on Monday August 10th, will be unusually lively, demonstrating the disunity that exists within the regional block. Alvaro Uribe, Colombia’s president, has said that he will not attend after a wave of criticism over his decision to allow American troops to use military bases in his country to pursue the battle against drug trafficking. He got a mixed response from his counterparts on a recent whirlwind tour of South America. Bolivia’s Evo Morales and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez both blasted the plan as the first stage of widespread American military operations in the region.’