Pubdate: Fri, 11 May 2001
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2001 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.herald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Sibylla Brodzinsky, Special to The Herald

U.S. PREPARES DRUG BRIGADES FOR COLOMBIA'S FRONT LINES

FORT LARANDIA, Colombia -- A group of U.S. Green Berets stood expectantly 
in a steamy jungle clearing in southern Colombia. Suddenly, a rustle in the 
bushes put them on alert.

A gruff voice announced: "We are troops of the counter-narcotics brigade. 
You are surrounded! Surrender!"

The U.S. officers didn't even flinch.

Instead, they took note of every detail as about 100 Colombian troops 
stormed into the clearing amid the thunder of grenades and rifle fire, shot 
blanks at two "rebels" guarding the installations of a mock drug lab and 
rounded up fellow soldiers acting as peasant workers for a training 
exercise on this sprawling army base in southern Caqueta province.

By the end of the month, more than 700 soldiers now under training by 47 
U.S. Special Forces instructors here will join the front lines in 
Colombia's U.S.-backed war on drugs.

Their graduation May 24 will mark the end of two years of preparation for 
three special counter-narcotics battalions that will lead the "push into 
southern Colombia" that aims to cut this nation's vast drug crops in half 
by 2002.

Funded with the bulk of a $1 billion U.S. aid package known as Plan 
Colombia, the 3,000-member counter-narcotics brigade will eventually be 
equipped with a fleet of 16 Black Hawk and 25 Super Huey helicopters, which 
will begin arriving in July.

"A year ago this was a dream, now it is reality," said a nearly gleeful 
Gen. Mario Montoya as he watched the recent training exercise by troops he 
will soon command.

The mock drug raid went smoothly, though a senior U.S. trainer noted some 
mistakes. "There's always room for improvement," he said, indicating that 
the "surprise" element of the raid attack was lost with the rustle of the 
bushes on the soldiers' approach.

But the trainers say they have been impressed overall by the Colombian 
troops. "They're top-notch," said a Bogota-based U.S. military official.

Once the third battalion graduates, the bulk of the U.S. Special Forces 
trainers and their support staff will return to their home base in Fort 
Bragg, N.C., but between 10 to 15 instructors will stay on as a permanent 
presence here for "touch-up" training for the Colombian troops.

Their experience here has led U.S. officers to dismiss the distinction made 
by some officials in Bogota and Washington between drug traffickers and 
combatants in Colombia's 37-year-old civil conflict.

The 3,000 members of the three anti-narcotics battalions under Montoya's 
command focus on Putumayo and Caqueta provinces, where 60 percent of the 
nation's estimated 333,000 acres of coca fields is concentrated. In this 
area, leftist rebels and right-wing paramilitary groups run the show.

Colombia produces some 560 metric tons of cocaine a year, and U.S. and 
Colombian officials say the trade is a source of millions of dollars in 
funding for both groups.

In each of the 75 counter-narcotics operations in Caqueta and Putumayo 
since December, Colombian troops have engaged with both guerrillas and 
members of the far-right paramilitary forces, according to Montoya.

One officer, two noncommissioned officers and six soldiers have been killed 
in the operations led by the first and second counter-narcotics battalions, 
he said.

"In this area there is no difference" between traffickers and combatants, a 
Bogota-based U.S. military official said here.

Still, the Special Forces trainers stress to their students the importance 
of accuracy in determining their targets. While armed rebels or 
paramilitaries may guard labs or crops, civilians work in the fields and 
the rustic "kitchens" where coca leaves are transformed into paste and 
later into powder cocaine.

"There is a very strong emphasis on marksmanship and target discrimination, 
ensuring that the soldiers identify targets as belligerent before they 
engage them," a senior U.S. trainer at Larandia said.

Each member of the U.S.-funded battalion is investigated to weed out any 
who have been accused or even suspected of rights abuses or connections 
with drug trafficking.

Since December, the two counter-narcotics battalions already in action have 
killed 52 rebels and paramilitaries in operations to take down 160 cocaine 
labs and to clear the way for fumigation planes to destroy some 73,500 
acres of coca crops.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager