Pubdate: Wed, 13 Aug 2003
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2003 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

U.S. TO INCREASE TRAINING OF TROOPS IN COLOMBIA TO FIGHT LEFTIST REBELS

BOGOTA - (AP) -- The United States will intensify its training of Colombian 
troops to bolster their campaign against leftist rebels, a senior Pentagon 
official said Tuesday.

Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it 
is in the United States' own interest -- and of other countries in the 
region -- to see the rebels defeated.

"Terrorism of any kind affects the stability and security of not only 
Colombia but also the entire Western Hemisphere," Myers said at a military 
airfield in Bogota as he ended a two-day visit and headed for Nicaragua.

Later Tuesday, in Managua, Myers said the SAM-7 antiaircraft missiles held 
by the Nicaraguan military are dangerous weapons that could fall into the 
hands of terrorists.

Myers met with Gen. Javier Carrion, leader of the Nicaraguan Army, to 
discuss the Russian-made missiles but provided few details of the conversation.

Carrion said U.S. concerns about the SAM-7s are valid, given that so many 
of the missiles are in circulation around the world and the appetite on the 
black market. The Nicaraguan general emphasized that there is an excellent 
exchange of information and help with the United States regarding 
terrorism, drug trafficking and migrant smuggling.

Earlier, Myers visited Bogota to see the results of Plan Colombia, a $3 
billion initiative aimed at cutting cocaine production in the country and 
fighting the rebels, and met with President Alvaro Uribe, the defense and 
foreign ministers and top military officials.

The general said the United States could shift some of its aid from 
fighting drug trafficking to bolstering Colombia's counterinsurgency 
campaign by training additional troops.

Myers' visit came as Washington contemplated how much aid to give the South 
American country.

The U.S. House of Representatives last month approved $731 million in 
military and economic aid for Colombia and six of its neighbors for 2004. 
The U.S. Senate is still working on its version of the bill.

The leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and a smaller 
leftist rebel group are fighting a four-decade war against Colombia's 
government and illegal right-wing paramilitary fighters. Since Friday, bomb 
attacks blamed on the FARC have killed eight people.

Myers also said the Colombian military, assisted by U.S. soldiers, 
continues to search for three U.S. military contractors captured by FARC 
rebels in February after their plane crash-landed in Colombia.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager