U.S. ENVOY VISITS TROOPS AT FACILITY IN COLOMBIA

ARAUCA, Colombia -- U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson, guarded by U.S. special
forces soldiers in a machine-gun mounted Humvee, came to one of Colombia's
bloodiest war zones Friday to meet with U.S. commanders training Colombian
troops. The Humvee, carrying elite U.S. soldiers toted assault rifles and a
grenade launcher trailed Patterson as she rode in a bulletproof sport
utility vehicle from the airport to a sprawling Colombian army base outside
the eastern town of Arauca. Patterson told reporters 70 U.S. Army trainers
had arrived in Arauca over the past few days, and that they would stay for
about three months to train 6,500 Colombian soldiers to protect a key oil
pipeline from attacks by rebels. Some residents of Arauca, who have endured
rebel car bombings and assassinations, said they were happy to see the
Americans. "They are welcome here," said a 40-year-old street vendor, who
asked not to be named. "They have a lot of experience. There's a lot they
can teach our soldiers during such a difficult time." The deployment of the
members of the 7th Special Forces Group, based at Fort Bragg, N.C.,
followed a decision by the Bush administration, with approval from
Congress, that U.S. military assistance should be expanded into helping
Colombia combat the rebels. Previously, U.S. military aid and training was
restricted largely to battling cocaine production, which rebels and rival
paramilitary gunmen profit from, fueling the war. Colombian Defense
Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez said the expanded U.S. military aid against
the rebels and outlawed paramilitary forces will "make our actions against
these groups much more effective and allow us to obtain the result we want,
which is to hit these groups hard." Ramirez, in an interview with The
Associated Press as she traveled in northern Colombia, said she believed
the U.S. military trainers would be safe in Arauca, which has been declared
a special security zone by President Alvaro Uribe. The U.S. special forces
in Arauca and in nearby areas of eastern Colombia are to train two
Colombian army brigades that protect the Cano Limon pipeline, which carries
oil for Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum across northern Colombia to
a seaside depot, where it is loaded onto U.S.-bound tankers. Colombia is
the 10th-biggest supplier of oil to the United States; rebel sabotage of
the Cano Limon pipeline has reduced its output. U.S. special forces already
have trained a 2,000-member Colombian army counternarcotics brigade as part
of almost $2 billion in mostly military aid the United States has given
Colombia over the past three years.