US to step up Colombia intervention

US to step up Colombia intervention

On October 20, some 100 rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) ambushed a group of high-ranking anti-drug police.

The attack took place just a day before anti-narcotics police commander Colonel Leonardo Gallego planned to take US anti-drug chief Barry McCaffrey to visit the site.

On October 19, McCaffrey visited a US radar station on the outskirts of the Amazon jungle town of Leticia.

US officials will not say how many radar stations the US has in Colombia or the size of the US contingent that operates them. However, a western diplomat recently told Reuter that at least 40 US military personnel and Drug Enforcement Administration agents are based in Leticia alone.

Leftist rebels say they have detected at least 14 US radar stations and bases, and that US agents are providing counterinsurgency training to the military as well as taking a front-line role in the so-called war against drugs.

"What US policy is angling toward is a greater presence of US counterinsurgency advisers in Colombia", explained Eduardo Gamarra, a Florida-based Latin American political analyst, adding that a large number of US military advisers are already providing counterinsurgency assistance in Colombia.

Colombian armed forces commander General Manuel Jose Bonett Locarno announced on October 22 that he had been given the go-ahead to use US anti-drug aid to fight leftist rebels.

[From Weekly News Update on the Americas.]

From GLW issue 296