President G.W. Bush is visiting Latin America this weekend, mostly to push free trade agreements like CAFTA. Like every good diplomat he is bringing a little something for his hosts, U.S. Special Forces stationed in Paraguay. A military deal between the U.S. and Paraguay according to a statement by the U.S. embassy officials has

U.S. personnel in small numbers, generally between 10 to 20 people, will train with their Paraguayan military colleges during periods from two to six weeks.

This of course is done in the name of humanitarian aid, counter-terrorism and the never ending (and dare I say losing battle) war against drugs. Skeptics inside and out of Paraguay think the U.S. has other plans, like to establish a permanent presence in the area. Reasons for the U.S. wanting to do that range from access to nearby resources like natural gas reserves in Bolivia to control of underground water aquifers. One of the most compelling possibilities is that the U.S. wants to keep tabs over what is known as the Triple Border, where the borders of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet and where there are accusations on the part of the U.S. of Arab merchants sending millions, perhaps billions, of laundered dollars to Middle East terrorist groups annually.

What is troubling about the added presence of U.S. troops in South America is that word of these activities was officially released on July 7th of this year, nearly four months ago. With Plan Colombia in place and the U.S. drooling over overthrowing Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, this new development certainly raises concerns.

Via / AlterNet