The attack killed one person and injured 72, including at least one American. It was the first time rebels had tried to target U.S. citizens in a terrorist-style attack in Bogotá.
Three U.S. government contractors are being held as prisoners of war by Colombia's largest rebel group after their plane crashed in rebel territory last February. A fourth American and a Colombian soldier who were aboard the plane were executed by members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC.
The rebels have been angry at the United States because over the past three years, it has provided $2.5 billion to Colombia to help the government battle rebels and drug traffickers.
A man, identified by police as a member of a commando unit of the FARC, threw hand grenades into two bars Saturday night. Both bars — the Bogotá Beer Company and Palos de Moguer — were popular with U.S. soldiers, contractors, journalists and other expatriates. *** [A bit off topic, Telemundo was just reporting that a Venz congressman charges that 11,000 Cubans have been brought in as a "parallel" army. Just thought I'd throw that out there. I've been hearing similar things for years now, but this is the first time I had heard such a figure. I have no idea if it is realistic. 2 posted on 11/20/2003 10:05 PM EST by marron ]
Under the gaze of rifle-toting soldiers, thousands of Venezuelans signed petitions demanding recall votes for 38 lawmakers. Results were expected within a month.
The four-day sign-up, a bid to strengthen Chavez's hold on Congress, came as his opponents gear up for their own petition drive — also a recall campaign — set to start next Friday.
The Organization of American States views a presidential recall referendum as a peaceful way to resolve a conflict threatening the stability of one of the world's largest oil producers. Any vote on Chavez's term, which runs to 2007, would likely occur next year.
Chavez has vowed to defeat the effort, just as he survived a coup in 2002 and a punishing general strike earlier this year. In recent months he has spent millions of dollars on programs designed to feed, house and educate Venezuela's majority poor.
"We have to kick out those obstructing the revolution," said Diana Trejo, an unemployed woman who signed Chavez's petition Friday. "All of this (government spending) benefits the poor who always have been excluded in this country."
A former army paratrooper, Chavez led a failed coup in 1992, was imprisoned for two years and was elected president in 1998 on an anti-corruption platform. He ushered in a new constitution, won a new six-year term and seized control of Congress in subsequent elections.
Since then, more than a dozen lawmakers have abandoned the Chavez camp to protest his inability to fight crime or create jobs. Many cite fears he wants to impose a Cuban-style dictatorship in this South American nation. Chavez's Fifth Republic Movement now has a single-digit majority in Congress. ***