Ambassador Alexander Vershbow, deputy secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and Juan Carlos Pinzón Bueno, Colombia’s defense minister, signed an Agreement on the Security of Information in Brussels on Tuesday. While the tailored cooperation treaty does not recognize Colombia as a NATO partner, it marks the first agreement of its kind between the Alliance and a Latin American country.
The Colombian government has faced considerable pushback from several Latin American countries including Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The countries have expressed concern that Colombia would become a member of NATO and pose a threat to the region. Despite the allegations, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Minister Pinzón Bueno and NATO itself have all insisted that membership is not the goal of the agreement. “There are no plans to establish a formal association,” a NATO spokesman said. In fact, the Alliance has explained that Colombia does not meet the geographic criteria for membership since it’s not located in the North Atlantic.
Instead of membership, the agreement focuses primarily on consultation and cooperation, specifically when it comes to security. “What we seek is to learn from NATO and to share our experience in the fight against drug trafficking, terrorist groups and other crimes committed by transnational crime organizations,” Pinzón Bueno said. Prior to agreement, only two Latin American nations had formally partnered with NATO. Both Argentina and Chile participated in the Stabilization Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Argentina was also involved in the Kosovo Force peacekeeping mission.
