The Bush administration, reacting to opposition from Latin American nations, has postponed plans to position U.S. military forces off the coast of Colombia to discourage drug trafficking.
The aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy and the cruiser USS Virginia maneuvered in the Atlantic off the Florida coast Monday in a visible symbol of the diplomatic circling occurring in Washington and Bogota. U.S. officials said their future deployment near Colombia would depend on talks with that country's government.Colombian officials have accused the United States of moving toward a naval and air blockade over the weekend after reports that the carrier group had left port and was preparing to take part in sea-based actions against drug trafficking.
But a statement issued Monday by the Colombian Embassy said the United States had said it would not interfere with Colombian flag ships, even on the high seas, without the permission of Colombian Defense Ministry.
News reports Monday from Bogota said Foreign Minister Julio Londono Paredes planned to resign over the issue, but Colombia's ambassador in Washington, Victor Mosquera Chaux, later said Londono told him he was not quitting.
Protests over the planned U.S. operation were not unexpected because President Virgilio Barco's 5-month-old war with Colombia's cocaine barons, seen as courageous elsewhere, has received relatively little support at home.
The issue is also sensitive after the U.S. invasion of Panama, which drew criticism from Colombians and other Latin Americans, who are sensitive to Washington's use of military force in the region as an instrument of policy.