Colombia: Another American Vietnam

In a scenario not unlike Vietnam, the US is deepening its military 
involvement in Colombia. It amounts to an all out US-dictated US-led war 
against the Colombian rebels.

A senior Pentagon official told an UPI reporter, "We no longer view the 
FARC and ELN guerillas as an internal threat to the security of Colombia, 
but as a threat to the security of the United States".

Another administration official said, "It's time to drop the fiction of 
anti-narcotics aid only. Americans are targets in Colombia."

A high level 50-person US security delegation recently arrived in Colombia 
to urge President Pastrana to take a more vigorous approach in combating 
the 17,000 member Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, was due to visit Colombia on his way 
back from Peru but was delayed by the events of Manhattan and Washington.

Colombia is one of the biggest recipients of US aid. Last year it received 
US$1.5 billion in a counter-drug package.

The present policy is meant to be restricted to providing anti-narcotic 
intelligence and training and 40 helicopters as escorts for the Colombian 
police crop dusters that spray defoliants on some of the coca crops. It 
also limits the US military presence to 500 troops and 300 private 
contractors.

If the new plan is approved it would enable the US to create new battalions 
to be used in any area, not just for anti-narcotic purposes. A State 
Department official said, "we are talking about more direct military to 
military support".

In 1998, five southern districts were declared a FARC safe-haven as part of 
a peace deal brokered by Pastrana and FARC. It is this area that the Bush 
administration is most concerned about. The defoliation of the coca crops 
has always been a selective process concentrating on those areas where FARC 
and ELN are strong.

However, the Colombian right-wing paramilitary groups also rely on the drug 
trade to fund their activities and according to the Colombia Commission of 
Jurists over 70 per cent of killings of civilians are carried out by 
paramilitary groups associated with the army. This makes a mockery of the 
US attempts to stamp out narcotics production and their supposed support 
for human and democratic rights.