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10/09/2005:

"U.S. military in Paraguay unsettles South America"

PILAR, Paraguay, Sept 26 (Reuters) - An American army reservist in fatigues clutches a stethoscope as she readies to check the blood pressure of a woman in this dusty Paraguayan city where U.S. soldiers offer basic medical treatment to the poor.

The troops' presence is part of joint military exercises being carried out by U.S. and Paraguayan soldiers.

But the sight of the American soldiers has fanned fears of greater U.S. military intentions among some Paraguayans, made South American neighbors uneasy and sparked media speculation of ulterior American motives.

Among them: establishing a military base here to monitor natural gas reserves in neighboring Bolivia where leftists could soon take power. Others charge U.S. financial interest in a nearby fresh water reserve, one of the world's largest.

The rumors highlight the tense relations Washington has with its "backyard" as Latin Americans grow critical of U.S.-pushed market reforms and the Iraq war. Decades of U.S. intervention, from Augusto Pinochet's 1973 coup in Chile to Central American wars in the 1980s, have added to the unease.
alertnet.org