US Defense Secretary to visit Colombia http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/9060-us-secretary-of-defense-to-visit-colombia-next-week.html

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will visit Colombia from April 14 to 15 to strengthen the two nations' military relationship and discuss the base-sharing agreement signed between the two countries last year.Gates is expected to meet with President Alvaro Uribe, and Defense Minister Gabriel Silva, as well as other Colombian government officials.

Gates will be the highest ranking official of the United States to visit Colombia since Barack Obama was elected president in 2008.This will be the second time that Gates has traveled to Colombia as secretary of Defense. The first time was in 2007 when he was occupying the same position under U.S. president George Bush.

comment-also see...Colombia: court rules against US bases plan as more details revealed http://ww4report.com/node/7923

The decision to review the legality of the U.S.-Colombia base deal comes just a week after Colombia’s Constitutional Court invalidated a controversial referendum project that would have allowed President Uribe to run for a third consecutive term. The referendum was also questioned on technical rather than substantive grounds.