Feb. 5, 2002, 8:47PM U.S. expands role in aiding Colombia --By JOHN OTIS (Houston Chronicle South America Bureau )
[Full text] BOGOTA, Colombia -- Widening the U.S. role in Colombia's long civil war, senior American officials announced Tuesday that Washington would provide $98 million in aid to help the Colombian military protect a vital oil pipeline from constant guerrilla attacks.
Until now, U.S. aid to the Colombian armed forces has been earmarked only for wiping out cocaine and heroin production, which provides millions of dollars to Colombia's rebels. Critics said Tuesday's disclosure signaled a risky policy shift toward broader support for counterinsurgency missions.
If approved by the U.S. Congress, the $98 million would be used to train and equip a Colombian brigade that would guard the Caño Limon oil pipeline, which was bombed by Marxist-led rebels a record 166 times last year.
"We support this effort to protect the pipeline because it is critical to Colombia's economic success," said Marc Grossman, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, who led a high-level delegation of Bush administration officials here.
A senior administration official who asked not to be named explained that the United States intends to help the Colombian government reassert its authority in the lawless countryside. The administration also hopes the aid would provide some relief for Occidental Petroleum, the Los Angeles-based firm that jointly runs the Caño Limon pipeline with the national oil company Ecopetrol.
Grossman, the No. 3 official in the State Department, led a delegation that included Maj. Gen. Gary Speer, the acting commander of the U.S. Southern Command, and Otto Reich, the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs. The group, which arrived in Bogota on Monday for a three-day visit, discussed the aid plan Tuesday with President Andres Pastrana and other top Colombian officials.
Defense Minister Gustavo Bell, one of the participants in the meeting, said the aid proposal drew wide support.
"What we're talking about is the need to use some resources to protect the infrastructure of the country that is being subjected to terrorist attacks," he said.
As the 38-year war drags on, sabotage continues to be a tactic of the country's two main rebel groups -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the smaller National Liberation Army, or ELN.
Last year, guerrillas knocked the Caño Limon pipeline out of service for 266 days. The line normally carries 123,000 barrels of oil per day to the Caribbean port of Coveñas, and its shutdown deprived the Colombian government of $40 million a month.
The Colombian army lacks the manpower to string a force all along the 481-mile pipeline, which can be breached in a matter of minutes with just a few pounds of explosives.
Colombia is the 10th-largest supplier of oil to the United States, and since 1986, the Caño Limon pipeline has been bombed more than 900 times.
Occidental has lobbied U.S. officials to intervene. "We have had some conversations with Occidental," the Bush administration official said. "They are obviously interested in this."
The $98 million would come in addition to a larger aid package unveiled by the administration Tuesday to fight drug trafficking and support democracy in five South American countries: Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela.
Bush's $731 million Andean Regional Initiative includes $439 million in military and economic assistance for Colombia, up from $399 million approved last year.
The proposal for guarding the pipeline would involve training and equipping 500 to 1,000 soldiers and providing them with helicopters, said Adam Isacson, an analyst at the Center for International Policy in Washington.
Rather than placing troops along the pipeline, the brigade would use increased air support, surveillance and intelligence to thwart rebel attacks.
The majority of recent U.S. military aid has funded the training of three Colombian counter-narcotics battalions, totaling about 2,300 troops, and the purchase of dozens of high-performance helicopters.
In addition, Isacson said, the U.S. policy shift indirectly contributes to counterinsurgency efforts, because Colombian troops who had been tied down guarding the pipeline would be freed to fight the guerrillas.
In Washington on Tuesday, three human rights groups charged that Pastrana's government has failed to meet minimal human rights conditions required to continue receiving U.S. military aid.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Washington Office on Latin America accused the Colombian military of working hand-in-hand with illegal right-wing paramilitary forces that have massacred suspected rebels and their alleged civilian collaborators. [End]
Occidental has lobbied U.S. officials to intervene. "We have had some conversations with Occidental," the Bush administration official said. "They are obviously interested in this."
Hey, what a great way to plan foreign policy! Hmmm, how does that song go?
The Rockies may tumble, Gibralter may crumble,
They're only made of clay.
But O.P. is here to stay!
On a more serious 'note', I voted for GWB with eyes wide open, and so far I have liked about 95% of what has come out of the WH. But I told myself if he started doing really stupid things like getting involved in the Columbian mess, I would turn against him in a heartbeat. Now I am wondering if my romance with our Prez can be laid to its rest at one year and one week. I wonder if Condi and Donald are foursquare behind this latest step?