This is something to pay attention to:
An extra 150 United States troops are expected to arrive shortly in Colombia to bolster a rescue mission for three Americans being held hostage by FARC rebels.
The US has been slowly increasing its presence in Colombia for some time, especially since the Pastrana-initiated (the Colombian president from 1998-2002) “Plan Colombia.” The combination of the narcotics problem, the stated policy of the Uribe administration to pursue a policy of confrontation, and the recent evidence of IRA-linkages to the FARC are all likely to continue to increase direct US military involvement in Colombia.
I study Colombia for a living (amongst other areas of interest) and actually find this current move to be somewhat surprising. The US troops currently in Colombia are there to train the Colombian military, and are not allowed to engage in combat. I am not suggesting that this will lead to direct engagement, but even the use of US troops for search-and-rescue is a fairly significant event.
August 10th, 2024 at 10:30 am