Paraguay
Paraguay should be on guard vis-à-vis the scope of the military agreement Bolivia and Venezuela initialed last May 26, as it represents a threat, said the newspaper Abc Color in its editorial on October 15.

The daily asserted that under the "cooperation" agreement signed between President Hugo Chávez and his Bolivian counterpart Evo Morales for the construction of military bases on the border with Paraguay, "underlies a hidden political position that is very ample," AP reported.

The report also noticed that 37.5 percent of the inhabitants in La Paz, the siege of the Bolivian Government, and the locality of El Alto, showed "disagreement" with the plans for Venezuela to build military bases in Bolivia, according to a private survey disclosed by DPA.

The poll conducted by San Francisco de Asís University concluded that 23.4 percent "are strongly opposed" to the pact, while only 24.2 percent "agreed" with the alliance.

Peru
Peruvian Foreign Minister José Antonio García Belaúnde has requested Bolivia for further information on the alleged deployment funded by Venezuela of military bases on the Bolivian-Peruvian border.

The senior official expressed again his Government concern about the issue and emphasized that there is no intention to harass Peruvian-Bolivian relations, but the Foreign Ministry ought to ask for an explanation of such cases.

"A military base is something much more complicated that a checkpoint. To the extent that checkpoints are in place we keep calm, as a useful status that mirrors good relations and trust between the parties is not disturbed," he told DPA.

Venezuela
The construction of military bases or headquarters in Bolivia does not involve settling of Venezuelan operational units, said the Venezuelan Minister of Defense General Raúl Isaías Baduel.

His comments came in reference to an agreement Venezuela and Bolivia initialed on last May 26.

"In general, this agreement focuses on cooperation in the fields of education, human aid, improvement of roads and facilities for the collective benefit," Baduel added, as quoted by the official news agency ABN.

Regarding technical cooperation, the Venezuelan Armed Force is likely to build port premises in Puerto Guijarro, in Santa Cruz, over the border with Brazil.