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U.S. Says Colombian Army Opposing Colombian Terrorists

02 December 2005

Defense Department reports on internal conflict in Colombia

By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The U.S.-trained Colombian army has taken the offensive "for the first time" against narco-traffickers and violent anti-government militias that support the drug traffickers in Colombia's mountainous rural areas, says the U.S. Department of Defense.

The department said in a November 29 report that the Colombian government's "Plan Patriota" is making advances against armed terrorist groups that are accustomed to operating "unmolested" in rural, ungoverned areas of Colombia where drug trafficking has thrived.  (See related article.)

Two left-wing guerrilla groups operating in those areas -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, and the National Liberation Army -- have been designated by the U.S. State Department as terrorist organizations.  Also posing a threat in those regions is a right-wing paramilitary group called the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), which the State Department also has designated as a terrorist organization.

U.S. military support for Colombia consists of about 200 trainers and about 200 other troops providing "information support" in the form of reconnaissance support and leadership and planning guidance, the DOD reported.  The U.S. Congress has imposed a limit of 800 U.S. service members in Colombia.

The Defense Department quoted Steve Lucas, a spokesman for the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) in Miami, as saying that no U.S. troops or advisers operate with Colombian operational forces.

"U.S. involvement is limited to training in garrison and planning support to headquarters elements" in Colombia, said Lucas.

The U.S. objective in Colombia is to train Colombian military trainers, so they, in turn, can train the bulk of their country's forces, said Lucas.  SOUTHCOM officials report that the Colombian troops are making progress in regaining their country because of the training provided by the United States.

The State Department carefully performs background checks on Colombian units that receive U.S. aid to ensure that those troops have not committed human rights violations.

Lucas said the United States has a moral obligation to help Colombia deal with its internal terrorist groups because America "is the largest market for cocaine, the flow of which is corrupting their society."

The vast majority of the world's cocaine comes from the Andean Ridge countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, according to the Defense Department.

SOUTHCOM says it is in the best interest of the United States to provide training to Colombia's armed forces so that the Colombians can counter internal guerrilla, paramilitary and criminal groups.  More stable neighbors improve U.S. security, according to SOUTHCOM.

Additional information about the report is available on the Defense Department Web site.

For more on U.S. policy, see Colombia.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)