U.S. Starts Training Colombian Soldiers

Wed., Aug. 9, 2000

U.S. Special Forces have begun training Colombian soldiers at a jungle base, officials said Tuesday, as a $1.3-billion U.S. aid initiative to help Colombia fight drugs and rebels gets under way.

The 83 U.S. military personnel are working with members of a Colombian anti-narcotics battalion at Larandia military base, Colombian and U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity. The base is in the Amazon River basin only a two-hour drive from the main stronghold of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

The U.S. troops are barred from accompanying Colombian soldiers into combat. Although FARC has declared it will fight the anti-drug offensive, it has not threatened to attack the U.S. soldiers directly.

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U.S. Starts Training Colombian Soldiers

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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