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DE RUEHMN #0498/01 2391914
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P 271914Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY MONTEVIDEO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9317
INFO RUCNMER/MERCOSUR COLLECTIVE
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 2689
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUMIAAA/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L MONTEVIDEO 000498 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR WHA/BSC 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/25/2019 
TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR MCAP MOTT UY
SUBJECT: URUGUAY: DAS MCMULLEN EXPLAINS U.S.-COLOMBIA 
DEFENSE COOPERATION AGREEMENT TO FM FERNANDEZ AND THE 
URUGUAYAN MEDIA 
 
Classified By: CDA ROBIN MATTHEWMAN, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) & (D) 
 
Summary 
- - - - 
 
¶1. (C) WHA DAS Chris McMullen visited Montevideo August 26 to 
provide background and information on the U.S.-Colombia 
Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) to Foreign Minister 
Fernandez and to the Uruguayan public.  Fernandez told him 
that Uruguay would do what it could to ensure the success of 
the August 28 UNASUR summit, defining success as the 
avoidance of both Colombia's isolation and lasting harm to 
the relationships of the heads of state attending.  Fernandez 
noted that most UNASUR members would be happy to lower the 
profile of the DCA issue in the region.  A draft declaration 
(translation below) circulated to participating foreign 
ministers by Argentine FM Taiana would do that by referring 
discussion and analysis of the DCA and possibly other 
military agreements to a working group within UNASUR's 
Defense Council.  McMullen's visit made a big media splash, 
garnering a lot of attention for our main DCA-related points. 
 End Summary. 
 
Upcoming UNASUR Meeting: Moderation Evident 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2. (C) McMullen began his meeting with FM Gonzalo Fernandez 
by explaining the context and content of the U.S.-Colombia 
Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA), with his explanation 
making clear that the context is more important than the 
content in this instance.  Starting from the institutional 
building blocks in the U.S.-Colombia military-to-military 
relationship, such as the 1952 Mutual Defense Assistance 
Agreement, McMullen walked Fernandez and Ambassador Elbio 
Rosselli (Uruguay's Undersecretary for Political Affairs 
equivalent) through to the present day. 
 
¶3. (C) McMullen emphasized that the DCA would not lead to the 
establishment of any U.S. base in Colombia, but rather grants 
us formal access to several Colombian facilities; that those 
facilities will remain completely under Colombian control; 
and that both sides agree to respect the principle of 
non-intervention in domestic affairs.  He explained that, in 
some respects, this agreement simply formalizes what has been 
close cooperation for a number of years.  He noted that the 
most sensitive aspects of the DCA for Colombia were not the 
issues making headlines in the region, but instead involved 
matters such as the status of contractors and customs 
treatment of imported items.  McMullen also reminded 
Fernandez that the tendency over the last decades in the 
region is for a declining U.S. military presence.  Finally, 
McMullen asked that Uruguay help to broaden the August 28 
UNASUR agenda from a sole focus on the DCA, in order to avoid 
Colombia's isolation at the meeting. 
 
¶4. (C) Fernandez explained that Uruguay initially had 
numerous questions about the DCA, especially as the media and 
others characterized the agreement as paving the way for U.S. 
bases in Colombia.  The August 6 visit to Montevideo by 
Colombian President Uribe put those concerns to rest, 
according to Fernandez, who said Uribe went into the same 
sort of detail as McMullen in his meeting with President 
Tabare Vazquez and Fernandez.  Fernandez stressed that 
Uruguay now understands that the DCA will not lead to U.S. 
bases in Colombia.  Still, Uruguay's longstanding policy of 
opposing any foreign bases in Latin America will continue, 
Fernandez cautioned, saying that Uruguay will support a 
sentence in the UNASUR summit declaration specifying 
opposition to foreign bases in the region.  Here Fernandez 
pulled McMullen aside to assure him that the proposed 
declaration reference to "foreign bases" would apply equally 
to all countries, and was not directed at the U.S. 
 
¶5. (C) Fernandez assured McMullen that Uruguay would do its 
best to make the Bariloche meeting a success, which he 
defined as the avoidance of Colombia's isolation and the 
avoidance of permanent damage to relations between the heads 
of state present.  Fernandez stated that he thinks the 
meeting will go well, explaining his optimism by pointing out 
that Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and "even 
Ecuador" have strong reasons of their own to want a 
successful outcome.  Fernandez then showed McMullen a fax 
copy of an anodyne draft declaration being circulated for 
comment by Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana.  That 
declaration has UNASUR heads of state kicking the DCA issue 
 
 
to a new working group to be formed within UNASUR's Defense 
Council, significantly lowering the issue's profile.  Uruguay 
will support the proposal, according to Fernandez, who added 
that he had conversations with the foreign ministers of 
Bolivia, Argentina, and Colombia, with each agreeing support. 
 (Note: McMullen passed a copy of the draft declaration 
electronically August 26 to PDAS Kelly.  An informal 
translation follows in paragraph (8).  End Note.) 
 
But Concerns Remain 
- - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶6. (C) Rosselli warned that there still exists the 
possibility that the August 28 meeting could go off the 
rails, even with so many countries invested in its success. 
Chavez will continue with his shrill anti-U.S. rhetoric, 
Rosselli said, but that is expected.  Rosselli told McMullen 
that Brazil's tack is still uncertain, as that country has 
legitimate concerns attendant with the DCA.  For instance, 
Rosselli said, the U.S. must consider how a strengthening of 
Colombian military capabilities might trigger the unintended 
result of directing a flood of Colombians, combatants and 
non-combatants alike, into Brazil.  Rosselli concluded by 
saying the U.S. will have to calm Brazil in order to assure a 
positive meeting result.  McMullen explained that he had just 
come from good meetings in Brazil, and that the U.S. 
understands and respects Brazil's concerns. 
 
Visit Draws Significant Media Attention 
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¶7. (C) McMullen's visit became a major media event.  In a 
scheduled interview with leading-circulation daily El Pais 
and during a press availability subsequent to his meeting 
with Fernandez and attended by all major media present in 
Montevideo, McMullen drove home his key messages.  Those 
messages were reported fairly faithfully, with particular 
outlets adding whatever slant for which they are known 
locally.  McMullen was the story of the day, and a full 
analysis of the visit's (likely considerable) public impact 
is reported septel. 
 
Informal Translation of Draft Declaration 
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¶8. (SBU)  The following is an informal translation of the 
text of the draft declaration circulated to UNASUR foreign 
ministers by Argentine FM Taiana.  Begin text: 
 
Bariloche Declaration on Measures of Mutual Confidence in 
Military Cooperation Matters 
 
The Chiefs of State and Government of the South American 
Union of Nations (UNASUR) in the extraordinary meeting held 
on August 28, 2009 in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina, 
 
Reaffirming the principles established in the UNASUR 
Constitutive Treaty signed on May 23, 2008 in Brasilia; 
 
Reiterating the common objective of strengthening South 
America as an area of peace, foundation for the integrated 
development of our peoples and the preservation of our 
natural resources; 
 
Ratifying, in particular, the vocation of UNASUR to promote 
dialogue and consensus in defense matters through the 
promotion of measures of confidence and transparency; 
 
Reiterating their strong determination to promote peace and 
the peaceful solution of controversies, respecting the 
sovereignty, territorial integrity, and inviolability of 
states in an unrestrictive manner; 
 
Decide: 
 
¶1.  To request the South American Defense Council of UNASUR, 
in its capacity as consulting, cooperation and coordination 
body in defense matters, to analyze and propose to the Chiefs 
of State specific measures to promote confidence and 
transparency in military cooperation and assistance matters 
that should be observed by UNASUR members in the framework of 
their national policies and agreements with extra-regional 
countries. 
 
¶2.  To this end, they set up a working group in accordance 
 
 
with the provisions of article 10 of the Council Regulations, 
which is to make its recommendations and proposals within 
sixty (60) days from the date of this declaration. 
 
End Text. 
Matthewman