[NOTE: I can't help but feel that this is a planted story meant to coincide with the consideration of increased military aid to Colombia. Time will tell, as usual, although by then the extra military aid to Colombia's security forces would have sailed through Congress amidst the deafening sound of U.S. media applause. -DG]

Already the third-largest recipient of US aid after Israel and Egypt, Colombia has asked the United States for an additional 500 million dollars in aid. 

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
Monday, 6 September 1999
 

Colombian rebels bought surface-to-air missiles: report 

By Alexander Martinez BOGOTA -- Colombia's left-wing rebels have upped the stakes in their 35-year-old war against the government, buying Russian-made SAM missiles capable of knocking helicopters out of the air, according to a media report. Quoting the national leader of former guerrilla fighters in El Salvador, the respected Semana weekly said Sunday the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels had bought 16 surface-to-air missiles.

"(Our members) have firsthand information of the acquisition of 16 surface to air missiles, used to knock down fighter planes and helicopters," Raul Elias Monge was quoted as saying. 

The report coincides with Colombia's neighbors expressing serious concern over what they perceive as a mounting regional threat posed by the FARC, and visibly increased US military aid and cooperation with Bogota. US military aid for Colombia -- intended to be used against drug traffickers -- has picked up since Pastrana took office in August 1998 as the distinction between the military's fight against guerrillas and the drug war has become increasingly blurred. Monge said his organization had passed the information onto the US State Department, which in turn had informed Colombian President Andres Pastrana. "This year we had four reports on these irregular activities and all of them were sent to the State Department in Washington," he said. 

Monge said the FARC bought the weapons last May in Nicaragua. The Sam 7s, Sam 14s and Sam 16s were then delivered from Nicaragua and Honduras into the demilitarized rebel stronghold in central-southern Colombia. Pastrana had ceded the territory last year to facilitate peace talks which have since collapsed while rebel gains on the battlefield have underscored the army's weakness.

Brazilian police said in August they seized a plane carrying weapons that were apparently destined for the 12,000-strong FARC, which was to pay for them with cocaine. The leftist group has long been accused of protecting drug kingpins, and US officials say it is playing an increasingly direct role in the illegal drug trade. Already the third-largest recipient of US aid after Israel and Egypt, Colombia has asked the United States for an additional 500 million dollars in aid.

The two countries are also negotiating funding for two US-trained army battalions specializing in anti-narcotics operations. According to the Pentagon, a first company completed training on June 25, and two more companies will have completed their training by December.

The battalions would be patterned after a 950-member counter-narcotics battalion now being trained in Colombia by US Army "green berets" to help roll back rebel control of Colombia's drug producing regions. Non-lethal gear, including communications equipment and night vision devices as well as boots and clothing, is being supplied to the unit by the US military, officials said. The United States also has agreed to provide 18 UH-1N Huey helicopters to make the battalion air mobile, a defense official said.