Colombian opposition Senator Piedad Cordoba said Saturday she will
construct “peace bases” in Colombia. The bases are a response to the
U.S.-Colombian plan to expand U.S. military presence in the country and
an idea of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
According to Cordoba the first of the at least seven peace bases will be set up in the Meta department, where the country’s largest rebel group, FARC, is very active.
Chavez had recommended the Senator to set up some 70 bases Friday, Cordoba said without specifying what the peace bases would be made up of.
The first base will be constructed in Meta and coordinated by former Meta governor Alan Jara, who spent years in FARC captivity and now is part of Cordoba’s peace group, Colombians for Peace.
Cordoba, accused by the Colombian government of being an ally of the FARC, announced she will also meet with Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, whose government cut diplomatic ties in March 2008 after Colombia attacked a FARC camp on Ecuadorean soil.
