COMMUNISM, COCAINE AND COLOMBIA ------------------------------------------------------------------------ U.S. advisers are now at risk training anti-drug units in Colombia, and the stakes are high. As VFW Res. 464 points out, "cocaine and heroin production have skyrocketed in Colombia" and America must "apply increased resources toward winning the war on drugs." - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Congress is clearly concerned about Colombia. "There is a real live civil war going on there," said Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), "involving three armed factions with American troops being sent in the middle. [We are not going] to fight the war for them." On Dec. 15, 1999, the first Colombian anti-narcotics battalion went into operation to combat drug merchants in that civil war-torn South American country. That war has claimed 35,000 Colombian lives, including more than 4,000 policemen in the last decade. By early October, 85 U.S. special forces advisers were instructing at the highly secured compound in Larandia, a base 40 miles south of Florencia in the Amazon River jungle. They were training a second 780-man anti-drug battalion made up of hand-picked Colombian policemen. It will be operational by December. A third outfit will be trained in 2001. U.S. units now involved include the 7th Special Forces Group and the 720th Special Tactics Group. Colombian anti-narcotics units operate from Tres Esquinas base, located 300 miles south of Bogota. It is "an island in a sea of guerrillas and narco-traffickers," said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jan P. Ithier. "What happens in Colombia on the narcotics front affects every school, hospital, courtroom, neighborhood and police station across America," said Rep. Benjamin A. Gilman (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House International Relations Committee. "Eighty percent of the cocaine and 75% of the heroin consumed in the U.S. comes from Colombia." Moreover, a direct threat to Panama and its canal exists. On Dec. 12, 1999, for example, Marxist guerrillas overran a Colombian naval base near the Panama border. This menace is still present. But Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) expressed another concern: "[I worry] the Administration has not fully thought through everything that could go wrong in Colombia. [The current plan] has an excellent chance of involving us in a civil war." Will Colombia become another Vietnam? And is it in U.S. national interests to become heavily involved there? 'Skinning Prisoners Alive' Colombia is a large country: Roughly the size of Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico combined. Its government has been fighting Communist insurgents for 40 years. "We are, by conception, Marxist-Leninist," a member of FARC's Central General Staff told free-lance reporter Steve Salisbury. "We are fighting for Colombian socialism." FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, founded in 1964, has an estimated 17,000-man army. It obtains some of its money by extortion and kidnapping. But it's the large amount of funds derived from the drug trade that enables FARC to be highly sophisticated. "They have satellite phones that give them a communications edge over the armed forces," wrote Clifford Kraus in the New York Times. "They are wily at wiretapping and cloning cellular phones, enabling them to anticipate the government's moves. They even use computers at roadblocks to check the bank accounts of drivers, allowing them to pick out the richest for kidnapping." The other Marxist movement, the National Liberation Army (ELN), has approximately 5,000 troops. It extorts money by threatening to blow up oil pipelines and actually commits acts of sabotage against large petroleum companies. "There are no Pancho Villas here," says one congressional staffer. "FARC has all its records on laptop computers. Because of huge amounts of drug revenues, they can afford to send their people to the best colleges. They have sent some to Berkeley, for example, to be trained as chemists, accountants, biologists and lawyers." Torture is another tool. "If a policeman or soldier is caught, he can be killed or ransomed," explains Dr. Tom Marks, who has extensive field experience in Colombia. "FARC behavior goes way beyond the bounds; members think nothing of skinning their prisoners alive." Until the mid-'90s, the Colombian drug trade was operated entirely by the Medellin and Cali cartels. Once these two huge illegal operations were destroyed, though, guerrillas took over the trade. Because they had been hired to protect the coca fields and shipments, they were already familiar with the business. The Colombian government granted the guerrillas the so-called "Distention Zone" (an area the size of Switzerland) as an "enticement" to sit down at the negotiating table. Viewed as a major blunder by most, the plan backfired. The Marxists continue to stall talks at every opportunity and now cultivate coca fields there with virtually no interference. Enter American Advisers That's when the U.S. stepped up its involvement. American advisers assisted in training the first anti-drug unit that helped destroy the two big cartels. With that success, additional troops were sent to Colombia. U.S. Navy SEALs from Foxtrot Platoon, SEAL Team 4, have trained Colombian commandos near the town of Cali. The SEALs concentrate on riverine and small unit tactics, extraction, infiltration, small arms use, first aid and swimming. This type of training is crucial for Colombian units because rebels construct some drug facilities in mangrove swamps and along jungle streams. "The SEALs are very professional and dedicated people," said Capt. Arnulfo Traslavina, commander of Co. E, 1st Bn., Special Forces-the Commando Especial del Ejercito (CEE) armed wing. "To see them so dedicated, it motivates us." As Salisbury reported in Jane's Intelligence Review, "The CEE, based in Cali since 1995, is not to be confused with the Colombian army's new counter-narcotics battalion, trained by some 60 to 80 U.S. Army instructors. "The CEE is commanded by a lieutenant colonel who reports directly to armed forces chief Fernando Tapias Stahelin. Given the CEE's increased urban operations, possible future training by SEALs discussed for the CEE includes urban reconnaissance and surveillance, demolitions, breaching, urban sniping, close-quarters fighting and helicopter rappelling." Congress has capped the number of U.S. troops in Colombia at 500 at any one time. Civilians, however, form an informal auxiliary. They include the Drug Enforcement Agency, CIA and private pilots. Up to 300 American contract employees can operate there. Pilots fly mostly fumigation missions and are increasingly encountering gunfire. Since 1997, three U.S. pilots flying for DynCorp and EAST Inc. (Eagle Aviation) have been killed. Reportedly, FARC has offered a $2,500 reward to any guerrilla who kills an American pilot. A $1.3 billion aid package is on its way to Bogota (Colombia's capital). In addition to money and training, Blackhawk helicopters are part of the deal. However, the first of these helicopters will not be delivered until October 2002. Dubbed Plan Colombia, the aid package has its critics. Stephen Johnson of the Heritage Foundation wrote: "The first Blackhawk helicopters might not arrive in Colombia for 18 months. Past delivery of aid has been bungled; over the last year, the State Department sent outdated ammunition to the Colombian police, while fresh rounds were delivered to the Department itself. "U.S. credibility in supporting Colombian democracy and combating narcotics trafficking is at stake. Denying aid would give the outlaws the upper hand, but [the current plan] merely slaps a band-aid on a cancerous problem." Marks adds: "Plan Colombia is going to be our counter-narcotics effort for our domestic drug problem. We should help Colombia. We have a long-term relationship with it. Its military officers train in our academies. Neither the FARC nor the ELN have a significant mass base. The majority of the people do not support the rebels. We are not training the Colombian army; we are training specialized anti-drug units. "Those Blackhawk helicopters are essential. In a recent battle, one took 2 rounds-and still kept flying. As of right now, the Colombian army has seven of them and the air force just 14. And in a country the size of Colombia, that's ridiculous." Specter Of A Narco-State As if the Marxist-Leninist guerrillas aren't enough, another faction also is involved in the fighting in Colombia-the much-maligned paramilitary units. "The Colombian constitution outlaws private citizens from carrying weapons," Marks explains. "Hell, they can't even own a radio. The people have to rely on the police and army to protect them. That was not working. So the local gentry formed vigilante groups to protect their villagers; a local block watch, if you will." Called Auto Defensas, the paramilitary units often lash out at the guerrillas. "When ill-organized groups like the paramilitary organization do this, innocents are killed," Marks continues. "It is a very sad situation. But if the government could bring these units under its wing, the rebels would be crushed. They are not getting to the heart of the problem. Destroy the rebels-you destroy the drug trade. If the Colombians get serious about this, they will win." One Colombian expert who spoke on condition of anonymity said, "The police and Colombian army cannot compete against the FARC. The money that they derive from the sale of drugs is phenomenal. If the FARC wins, we will have the world's first narco-state. A mere 2 1/2-hour plane ride from Miami, there will be a safe haven for every international terrorist and drug trafficker in the world. It is a definite threat to our national security. "And we Americans have ourselves to partially blame for this situation. Three-quarters of the cocaine that is harvested there comes to this country. If there was no demand, there would be no supply. Every time some American uses cocaine or heroin, he or she supports the Communist rebels in Colombia." Death On A Mountain On July 23, 1999, a U.S. Army RC-7 De Havilland, carrying five American soldiers and two Colombian Air Force majors, crashed into the side of a 7,000-foot uncharted mountain. The reconnaissance aircraft crew, from Delta Company, 204th Military Intelligence Battalion, out of Fort Bliss, Texas, went down in the Putumayo region-a prime coca-growing area for Colombian drug runners. All on board were killed: Capt. Jose A. Santiago. Jr.; Capt. Jennifer J. Odom; Chief Warrant Officer Thomas G. Moore; Pfc. T Bruce Cluff and Pfc. Ray E. Krueger. The top-secret plane and its crew were flying almost daily in the rebel-plagued territory. Equipped with highly sensitive eavesdropping and aerial surveillance equipment, the De Havilland was assisting the Colombian armed forces to locate Communist bases. It was a mission those aboard believed in. "I would say he died doing what he wanted to do-fighting against drugs," said Jose Santiago, Sr., father of Jose. Some observers don't believe the plane crashed accidentally. "There are no uncharted mountains in that country," said one congressional aide. "That plane should not have gone down. Was it shot down? That's another question." Retired Army Col. Charles Odom, husband of Jennifer, says, "One thing we know-Jennifer did not fly into that mountain." Colombian expert Dr. Tom Marks counters: "According to my sources, the plane was not shot down but did, in fact, crash into the mountain." The fact remains that five American military personnel gave their lives in the Colombian anti-drug campaign And they should be remembered. "Given the increased U.S. presence," said Larry Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, "there is no question that some Americans are going to be killed, and the question is, what's the reaction of Congress and the American people going to be?" Colombia Convulsed More than 20 civil wars have wracked Colombia since 1830. Traditionally waged between the Liberal and Conservative political factions, the three worst occurred in the 20th century. One continues to this day. >From late 1899 through 1902, the two sides savaged each other in the War of the Thousand Days. In terms of casualties, the worst single battle was at Palonegro in May 1900. The 15 days of nonstop fighting exacted more than 1,000 lives and 3,000 wounded among the 25,000 combatants. It was the longest and bloodiest battle ever fought on Colombian soil, as well as the largest in modern South American history. "The bodies of hundreds of dead men and animals lay bloated and decomposing between the lines, filling the air with their nauseating stench," wrote Charles W. Bergquist in Coffee and Conflict in Colombia, 1886-1910. "Water supplies became polluted and fever and dysentery began to claim more lives than combat." Tens of thousands of Colombians died over three years, perhaps half due to disease. The first year was the most deadly: 13,492 soldiers on both sides were killed in larger scale battles. Deaths from wounds and epidemics boosted the total to 20,000 in 1900. After the decisive Liberal defeat at Palonegro, the guerrilla war persisted for another 2.5 years. A sideshow to this war was the liberation of Panama, then a province of Colombia. With the aid of the gunboat USS Nashville and Marines aboard the transport Dixie, local separatists declared independence from Bogota, paving the way for the eventual building of the Panama Canal. 'La Violencia' Erupting in 1946 and lasting until the early '60s, Colombia's era of sustained civil strife is known simply as "The Violence." "All in all, it makes a gruesome story, in which eventually between 100,000 and 200,000 Colombians died," wrote David Bushnell in The Making of Modern Colombia, "often in quite unpleasant ways. Usually, the warfare pitted Liberal against Conservative peasant in the countryside. Strangely enough, Protestants (then only 1% of the population) were particularly targeted because they were adherents of the Liberal Party. A hardcore group of guerillas never accepted amnesty when it was offered. Some were bandits. Others included Communists in rural holdouts in the upper Magdalenea Valley. These guerrilla cells provided the nucleus for the Marxist insurgency launched in 1961-62 and inspired by Cuba. It was largely defeated by 1965. Survivors, however, formed three separate Communist movements that cooperated in a loose coalition-at least for a while. Ultimately, the Communists would join forces with the cocaine dealers, creating a lethal alliance. One element of that network is largely responsible for Colombia's turmoil today: FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Colombia In Korea Colombia was the only Latin American country that sent troops to the Korean War. Between June 1951 and July 1953, a Colombian infantry battalion and the frigate Almirante Padilla served there. Peak strength of the battalion reached 1,068 men in July 1953. Colombian infantrymen-most of whom were volunteers-fought in the Kumsan offensive and at the Battle of Old Baldy. During the Old Baldy-Pork Chop Hill operation in March 1953, the Colombians were attached to the 31st Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 7th Infantry Division. The battalion earned its share of Silver and Bronze Star medals. But it also sustained proportionate casualties-140 KIA, 65 MIA, 29 POW and 452 WIA-to its manpower contribution. Yanks Invade Colombia It is a forgotten episode of America's distant martial past, but an important one. During the War of Jenkin's Ear (1739-431), the first Americans to fight on foreign shores landed at Cartagena, Colombia. With the exception of 113 New Englanders recruited to serve in the Caribbean in 1703, Gooch's American Foot Regiment (named after Virginia lieutenant governor William Gooch) was the first unit of American colonials the British dispatched overseas. The 36-company regiment was organized into four battalions totaling 3,600 troops. Farmers formed the backbone of the force. Most volunteers were motivated by the prospect of plunder, a common inducement in those days. After all, they were in it for the duration of the expedition. The American Regiment was part of the largest British expeditionary force yet to enter the Western Hemisphere. Britain's armada arrived off Colombia March 4, 1741. British regulars assigned the American "provincials" the inglorious support tasks. Yet some enterprising Yanks found a way to fight. A party of roving Americans reportedly captured the convent at Madre La Papa during a bloody battle. Another group, 200 Virginians led by Capt. Lawrence Washington, seized the Baradera Battery. When the British lifted their siege and finally departed Cartagena on April 19, Americans were among the last to leave shore. A full two years after they had left American shores-and plagued by two later disastrous diversions-the regiment returned home to be disbanded. The unit's fatality rate was at least 35%,.or 1,200 men dead. Noted colonial historian Douglas Leach concluded: "Those who did return seem to have slipped quietly back into the populace of the 11 colonies from which they had come, having brought home no glory and no riches-only a pocketful of bitter memories." AL HEMINGWAY, a Vietnam vet and VFW member, based in Connecticut, interviewed several Colombia experts for this story.
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