Rumsfeld Visits Colombia to 
Support War against Rebels 

HERNAN ETCHALECO / Pravda 20auug03

[Reuters & AP articles below]

The US Secretary of Defence arrived in Bogotá, shortly after Uribe's government signed a controversial deal with paramilitary troops responsible for crimes against humanity Observers see U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's visit to Bogota that started on Tuesday as a personal victory of the Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who had repeatedly asked for Washington's help on his fight against left wing insurgency in the country. Actually, the Bush administration, busy on its incursions in Middle East, paid little attention to the longest South American conflict.

In the first top level US visit to Colombia in 2003, Rumsfeld-s support could herald an impending increase in Washington's financial support for Colombia's war against the rebels. Early this year, Washington officially suspended military aid to Colombia alleging human rights violations committed by the national army and their ties to paramilitary groups.

However, ties between Uribe and Bush are strong and aid is expected to reassume soon. Additional support is also under study, which could include facilities to ensure the swifter sharing of US satellite intelligence and assistance in training elite jungle combat battalions.

During the weekend, Colombia's Army said captured over 140 fighters of the Revolutionary Armed Forced of Colombia, or FARC, the country's largest rebel group. Uribe himself experienced a hasty evacuation when FARC guerrillas tried to shoot down his helicopter when it approached to land in a village in northern Colombia.

President Uribe, a technocrat elected a year ago, has repeatedly pledged to crackdown on rebels. He has also asked for a foreign assistance in the conflict "similar to the one in Iraq", to fight local insurgency.

However, Colombia's plans found the diplomatic opposition from many South American countries as Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina, which are afraid the violence spiral could affect them. Relations between Bogotá and Caracas have deteriorated, since far-right Colombia's government sources accused Chavez of allowing leftist rebels to hide in Venezuela.

Caracas has angrily denied this claim, but suspicious persists. Gen Richard Myers, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week that there was a need to explore claims that Colombian guerrillas were receiving support from neighboring countries.

Colombia is one of the largest recipients of US military aid, as both governments have signed cooperation agreements to fight leftist guerillas and drug trafficking in country's rainforests. To reinstate aid, USA asked Colombia to sign a bilateral agreement to secure immunity to US Army officers.

Colombia, in turn, replied that has already signed in 1962 a similar deal with Washington, but the State Department says it is not enough and Colombia should sign a new one refusing any International Criminal Court jurisdiction in its territory to begun receiving funds again.

source: http://english.pravda.ru/world/20/91/368/10737_rumsfeld.html 20aug03

Rumsfeld: 
Colombia Anti-Drug Flights to Resume 

REUTERS 19aug03

BOGOTÁ, Colombia—Washington will resume U.S.-backed drug interception flights over Colombia, which were suspended following the 2001 deaths of a U.S. missionary and her baby in Peru, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Tuesday.

Rumsfeld told reporters traveling with him on a trip to Colombia that President George W. Bush would announce the decision later on Tuesday to help the fight against drugs in the world's largest cocaine producing country.

"That ... will resume soon," Rumsfeld said. "The president is acting on it and he will be announcing it some time today. It's pretty clear that that's going to happen."

The United States and Colombia have been negotiating for months over an agreement on safety procedures that would allow the resumption of the U.S.-backed Airbridge Denial program suspended after the accidental shooting down of an aircraft in Peru.

Colombian and Peruvian officials, who view the flights as an important way to fight the drug trade, wanted them to resume last year and the delay has frustrated many in the region.

Each time U.S. officials have put forward a target date for Bush's decision it has slipped, in part because of the complex process of designing airtight procedures to prevent any repetition of the 2001 incident. Then, a small aircraft was mistakenly shot down in neighboring Peru, killing U.S. missionary Veronica Bowers and her daughter Charity.

"I think it's important," said Rumsfeld. "It was helpful before and it's helpful now. There are plenty of ways that illegal trade can move -- land, sea or air -- and if you are not attentive to the air, obviously it becomes a preferred method.

"So by reinstating the Airbridge Denial program I think it will be helpful," he said.

Rumsfeld: 
Terrorism Threat in S. America 

ROBERT BURNS / AP Military Writer 20aug03

U.S. Defense Secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld, listens to a question during a news conference in Bogota, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2003. Rumsfled visited Colombia to pledge Washington's commitment to bolster Colombia's counternarcotics effort. (Photo not included)

Although Iraq and Afghanistan are the main U.S. battlefields in the war on terrorism, there also is a significant terrorist threat in Central and South America, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Wednesday.

"It is a truly global struggle," Rumsfeld told about 100 U.S. troops inside a cinder block aircraft hanger at this remote air base in a lush valley ringed by thickly forested mountain peaks.

Terrorists in this region are mixed with drug traffickers and other criminals, he said, making them difficult to distinguish.

"In this region we know there are terrorists, there are hostage-takers, there are drug traffickers," he said. "Sometimes it's the same people doing all three things. And it poses a very serious threat."

Rumsfeld stopped here for about an hour to address members of a U.S. multi-service group called Joint Task Force Bravo, a little-known outfit that conducts training, counter-drug and humanitarian missions in Central and South America and in the Caribbean. They number about 500 troops.

Central and South America share some of the troublesome characteristics of areas in the Persian Gulf and Central Asia that have enabled terrorist groups to thrive in recent years, Rumsfeld said. He cited the problem of ungoverned areas in Central America and unprotected borders.

"Terrorists use those seams to their advantage," he said.

Rumsfeld said the Bush administration appreciates the Honduran government's partnership in the war on terrorism. As evidence of that cooperation he noted that Honduras is sending troops to Iraq.

After his stop at Soto Cano, Rumsfeld flew to Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, where he was meeting with President Ricardo Maduro before returning to Washington

The Hondurans have dispatched about 370 soldiers as part of a Latin American security contingent that will operate in south-central Iraq as part of a Polish-led division. They are to replace the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in September after training with a Spanish brigade in Spain and in Kuwait.

Rumsfeld flew to Honduras from Bogota, Colombia, where he met Monday with President Alvaro Uribe, Defense Minister Marta Lucia Ramirez and top military commanders and expressed American support for the government's counterdrug and counterinsurgency efforts.

In Bogota, Rumsfeld announced that President Bush had approved plans to resume U.S. support for surveillance flights over Colombia aimed at interdicting drug traffickers. The surveillance flights had been suspended in 2001 after a Peruvian fighter jet acting on U.S.-supplied intelligence mistakenly shot down a missionary plane, killing a woman and her child.