Curaçao Buffeted As It Plays Host To US Military Site, Venezuelan Business Interests -- Christian Science Monitor
US vessels have been making frequent calls. The island also hosts US surveillance planes.
WILLEMSTAD, Netherlands Antilles - Forward Operating Location Hato doesn't look like much: a clutch of temporary hangers and a half-dozen US Air Force E-3 surveillance aircraft lined up at the far end of the international airport of Curaçao, a Dutch island dependency in the southern Caribbean.
But the facility and the frequent port calls of US naval vessels here have thrust this tourist destination onto the frontlines of an increasingly tense standoff between the US and Venezuela, which on a clear day can be seen from the hilltops of Willemstad, the island's capital.
Venezuela's colorful leftist leader, Hugo Chávez, has claimed that the US intends to use Curaçao as a launch pad for an invasion of his country, which lies just 50 miles to the south. US officials say the military presence here is limited to sailors on rest and relaxation port calls and airmen flying drug-interdiction missions.
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My Comment: I would also make the same assumptions about the U.S. installations in Colombia, Guyana, and Puerto Rico.