WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS ISSUE #447
AUGUST 23, 1998

NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499


*1. US COVERT PROGRAM EXPOSED IN COLOMBIA

According to an Aug. 19 report in the Dallas Morning News by Tod
Robberson, US intelligence and anti-narcotics sources say the
Clinton administration has responded to an offensive by leftist
rebels in Colombia by launching a multimillion-dollar covert
program to support the Colombian armed forces. They say the
program goes well beyond the stated US mission of fighting drug
traffickers in Colombia. 
 
A US embassy spokesman said there has been a "strategic
redeployment" of all US personnel working under government
contract in the zone of conflict since the rebel offensive began
on Aug. 3 [see Update #445]. Some US Special Forces troops
currently are allowed to participate in training exercises with
Colombian soldiers under a Pentagon exchange program in existence
since 1991. US officials said those US troops have not been
assigned to combat roles, but are authorized to fight if fired
upon. Legal restrictions bar other active-duty US military
personnel from deployment in zones of conflict.
 
But sources in Bogota told Robberson that the Clinton
administration has avoided the restrictions by hiring retired
Green Berets and other private contractors to carry out sensitive
jungle operations. Robberson cites several sources who spoke on
condition of anonymity, saying that tens of millions in US
taxpayer dollars are going into covert operations across southern
Colombia employing, among others, US Special Forces, former Green
Berets, Gulf War veterans and even a few figures from covert
operations backed by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in
Central America during the 1980s. Some have been involved in
direct combat with Colombian guerrillas, the sources said.
 
One participant in US operations in Colombia said he had flown
combat missions over Baghdad during the US Gulf War and was
involved in covert CIA operations to assist the Nicaraguan
contras in the late 1980s. The participant said he flew several
missions with Eugene Hasenfus, the sole US survivor of a CIA-
backed flight shot down over Nicaragua by Sandinista troops on
Oct. 5, 1986. "To get somebody out there to do those operations,
you almost have to have that shady past," said Joe Toft, the
former chief of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in
Colombia.
 
Some of the personnel involved in US operations in Colombia are
working under a State Department contract with Dyncorp and East
Inc., private firms based in suburban Washington. Officials of
both companies said they were not permitted to discuss their
operations in Colombia and referred all questions to the State
Department. While the companies officially provide pilot training
and technical support for coca and poppy eradication flights, one
pilot said he had conducted a number of missions that went well
beyond that scope, including assisting in the deployment of
Colombian counterinsurgency troops. Two US pilots working for
East Inc. were killed on July 27 near a military base at San Jose
del Guaviare [see Update #444]; the deaths are still under
investigation. 
 
Dyncorp personnel who were based at San Jose del Guaviare before
the strategic redeployment said they were under strict orders not
to talk to reporters. According to Robberson, the US Embassy in
Bogota has tried to discourage reporters from investigating the
activities of government-contracted personnel in Colombia. One US
reporter who sought to talk to Dyncorp pilots at San Jose del
Guaviare said he was threatened with banishment from the US
Embassy if he ever tried to approach Dyncorp personnel again. "Of
course they have to keep it secret," said an intelligence
operative in Bogota who asked not to be identified. "They're up
to a lot of things that they shouldn't be." He did not elaborate.
[DMN 8/19/98]
 
Before the Dallas Morning News article was published, Robberson
reports, State Department officials did not return his phone
calls, and US Ambassador to Colombia Curtis Kamman declined an
interview request. On Aug. 20, a day after the article appeared,
a State Department spokesperson issued a denial: "These
contractors are not mercenaries," she said. "They are not engaged
in counterinsurgency operations or any other activity not fully
sanctioned by the US Congress and the executive branch." The
Defense Department said in a statement that it has "no covert
counterinsurgency program in Colombia" and that the Pentagon
"employs no ex-military personnel, private contractors or
mercenaries to conduct any covert counterinsurgency program in
Colombia." The CIA declined to comment. "We don't discuss covert
actions or activities," a spokesperson said. [DMN 8/21/98]