Sorting Through the Lies About Venezuela (Portside)
The United States has some 800 military bases around the world*, and 76 of these are in Latin America. Among the best known are 12 in Panama, 12 in Puerto Rico, nine in Colombia, and eight in Peru, with the greatest number concentrated in Central America and the Caribbean.
***
Colombia is a major actor in the region, especially given its new relationship with NATO. Colombia invested the equivalent of 3.1% of its GDP in military expenditures, approximately 9.7 billion U.S. dollars. This country’s military budget is the second highest in the region, surpassed only by Brazil. The third largest military spender is Argentina, which allocated 5.68 billion USD to its armed forces, equivalent to only 0.9% of it GDP.
* This is the official figure. However, it does not include all US military installations, troops, and US military personnel in foreign bases around the world. See Nick Turse’s article, BASES, BASES, EVERYWHERE … EXCEPT IN THE PENTAGON’S REPORT. bringing the figure closer to at least 1000 bases and related installations.
An older map from 2009 but you can see the close proximity of the bases to Venezuela. Map: Tony Seed’s Weblog