AP. 16 January 2003. U.S. Special Forces Arrive in Colombia. BOGOTA -- Dozens of U.S. Green Berets flew in to a Colombian war zone this week to train Colombian army troops to protect a key oil pipeline from rebel attacks, a U.S. official said Thursday.
The arrival of the members of the 7th Special Forces Group marks a turning point in U.S. involvement in Colombia's civil war. Previously, U.S. military aid and training was restricted largely to battling cocaine production, which rebels and rival paramilitary gunmen profit from, fueling the war. But the Bush administration, with approval from the U.S. Congress, has decided the U.S. military assistance should expand into helping Colombia combat the rebels. About 60 U.S. trainers began arriving earlier this week, joining about 10 others already stationed in Arauca state on Colombia's eastern border with Venezuela, said the U.S. official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. On Thursday, about 20 U.S. troops drove up to Arauca airport in jeeps, then unloaded equipment, including military vehicles, from an arriving plane, according to a reliable witness who insisted on anonymity. Numerous shipments of equipment and supplies are expected over the next few weeks, the U.S. official said. The troops -- who are settling in to military barracks on Colombian army bases throughout Arauca state -- are expected to begin training at the end of the month, he said. The members of U.S. troops, based at Fort Bragg, N.C., are to train two Colombian army brigades that protect an oil pipeline that carries oil for Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum across northern Colombia to a seaside depot. Leftist rebels are battling the government in Arauca, an area of grassy plains and oilfields. The rebels regularly bomb the pipeline and have stepped up their attacks on military and police targets in recent weeks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ProletarianNews http://www.utopia2000.org -- Macdonald Stainsby, External Relations Co-ordinator, Douglas Students Union. ** In the contradiction lies the hope. --Bertholt Brecht. *** "`Order rules in Berlin.' You stupid lackeys! Your `order' is built on sand. Tomorrow the revolution will rear ahead once more and announce to your horror amid the brass of trumpets: `I was, I am, I always will be!'" -Rosa Luxemburg, 1918. _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
