U.S. Secretary of State, National Security Advisor, and wannabe presidential candidate Marco Rubio started his three-stop tour of South America in Colombia on Sept. 8. From the get-go, it became clear that the priority issue on his agenda is the Trump administration’s so-called “Shield of the Americas” operation to establish direct U.S. military and economic domination over the countries south of the United States. Getting the Western Hemisphere in “alignment with the U.S. and U.S. interests,” as outlined in the National Security Strategy, he told reporters before boarding the plane for Colombia.

Reporters at a press conference in Barranquilla, Colombia repeatedly questioned Rubio about “the possibility of having U.S. military bases in Colombia, yes or no?” His first answer: “Anything is possible.” He demurred that “first, we have to be invited, because this is a sovereign country,” but then stumbled: “The decision has to be made by the Venezuelan people—sorry, by the Colombian people, through their elected officials.”

His second answer: “We can open a military base; we have to be invited to do so. We have to study whether it’s feasible. In many cases, these bases are joint bases … as we have in other parts of the world…. What is beyond doubt is that the United States will cooperate with the Colombian government with everything necessary to confront this regional threat, not just in Colombia.”

Then he acknowledged in answering yet another question that “the possibility is being studied.” He added that “there are still some steps to take. I’m not against it,” and again spoke of it possibly being “a joint base, or a facility that both countries can use.” Such a base would clearly be aimed against the region as a whole. Rubio reported that Colombia’s new president, Abelardo De la Espriella, “has invited us to open an operations center in Medellin, for the entire region, not just Colombia.” Colombia’s Caribbean, Amazonian and Andean neighbors will take due note.