Banks In The Black

In mid-September President Fernando Lugo revoked plans to allow US troops to hold a number of joint military and humanitarian exercises - under the so-called 'New Horizons' programme - on Paraguayan soil. The change of mind came only a few weeks after Colombia struck a deal with Washington that would see US troops conduct counter-drug and rebel operations from seven Colombian military bases. Lugo's U-turn reflects an unwillingness to risk drawing the ire of regional peers, such as Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina, who have criticised the programme as a plot by the US to strengthen its influence in the region.

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