In a previous article, I examined evidence suggesting the U.S. military base in Manta, Ecuador would be moved to a new location in Colombia after the Pentagon's contract with Ecuador expires at the end of this year. The evidence pointed to Colombia’s Palanquero Air Force base in Puerto Salgar, just 120 miles north of Bogotá, as the likely new host.

But recent declarations by Colombian and U.S. officials indicate that they might be in the process of devising a new strategy: As an alternative to a bulky, costly, and politically sensitive establishment of a "new" U.S. base on Colombian soil, the Pentagon and Colombia's Defense Ministry seem to have devised a more decentralized scheme; that is, not one base or several small ones, but rather an agreement granting privileged access for the U.S. military to several Colombian bases at the same time.

On April 13, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield said, "Colombia and the United States are collaborating on efforts to fight illicit drugs and international crime. Part of that collaboration, without a doubt, requires access to installations between the two countries and [access regulations] should be adjusted."

In a radio interview, Colombian Gen. Freddy Padilla explained that Colombia was in "conversations" with Washington about how Colombia can help fill the gap once the Manta lease expires. Citing an example of how this new collaboration would work Padilla said that because of Colombia's privileged "geo-strategic position" it made sense for U.S. aircraft to use Colombian bases for maintenance, re-supply, technical issues, and as a resting place for flight crews. This would prevent U.S. aircraft from having to fly all the way to installations further away from the theaters of operation in the northern Andes.

In my previous article, I noted local objections to a stepped-up U.S. presence in Colombia from Rafael Pardo, a former Minister of Defense. On this occasion, Pardo again expressed his objections, highlighting that increasing involvement by the U.S. military could upset already tense relations with Colombia's neighbors and the rest of Latin America. (Colombia's regional relations took a nosedive after it bombed a rebel camp in neighboring Ecuador in March 2008.)

Pardo also claims that current Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos is trying to use the base issue as a way of "ingratiating himself with the North Americans" ahead of launching his widely expected bid for Colombia's presidency in 2010.

The decentralized alternative might be a temporary stop-gap measure or, perhaps, it signals a new kind of model for maintaining a U.S. military presence in South America.