Colombia

Frida Ghitis reveals that beleaguered Colombia's new president plans to enlist "battalions of civilians" as the "eyes and ears" of the military (Commentary, Aug. 6). Great plan, if you want a military takeover. Given the U.S. support of Colombia's internal war, you have to wonder if this system of domestic spying will serve as a trial horse for our own proposed TIPS program. If so, let's save our taxpayers some money. The Bush administration doesn't need another example of this despicable idea.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell has certified to Congress that the Colombian government and armed forces are meeting standards set by Congress for protecting human rights, freeing $31.6 million in aid for Colombia's security forces, the State Department said Tuesday The certification drew sharp criticism from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which contended that Colombia fell short of the congressional standards. In a statement, State Department spokesman Philip T.

Optimism is sorely needed in Colombia, but let's not be naive ("A Shot of Hope for Colombia," editorial, Aug 4). During the Copa America, Colombia's largest daily paper reported 16 killed by illegal right-wing paramilitaries and 34 by guerrillas. Guerrillas kidnapped 12, including a former Colombian governor riding in a U.N. vehicle and three German technicians who were working with an Indian tribe on rural development projects. Another 15 were kidnapped by the largest guerrilla group in a raid on a luxury apartment building the moment the games closed.

Re "Dogs of War Bare Their Teeth Over Colombia," Commentary, July 17: The use of mercenaries to circumvent U.S. laws is problem enough. The fact that the mercenaries almost undoubtedly will prove to be ex-U.S. military personnel is a second major problem. We are creating a competitor to our legal armed forces both as a military employer and as an armed agent of national policy, a new and dangerous addition to the military industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned the nation about.

A top Colombian court convicted three Irishmen on Thursday of training Colombian rebels in terrorist tactics and sentenced them to 17 years in prison. A three-judge panel in Bogota, the capital, overturned the acquittals of James Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley -- all suspected Irish Republican Army members -- and ordered their arrests. But Atty. Gen. Luis Camilo Osorio said they had fled the country. After they spent three years in prison, a judge ordered their release in April.

The country launched a three-day campaign Saturday to vaccinate an estimated 3.3 million children against polio at 15,000 points across the country, the Health Ministry said. The campaign, involving 60,000 health officials and volunteers, will cost an estimated $4.2 million.

On the eve of a visit by President Bush, the United States Embassy confirmed Saturday that American and Colombian soldiers had conducted a joint operation in the southern stronghold of leftist rebels who are holding three U.S. military contractors. The rare confirmation followed a report by Colombia's largest newspaper, El Tiempo, that two area residents were interrogated about the contractors' whereabouts by the U.S. and Colombian soldiers after the operation in late January. U.S.

Police captured a reputed leader of the Norte del Valle drug cartel Tuesday in a U.S.-backed effort to dismantle the gang. Dagoberto Florez was on a most-wanted list of alleged cocaine kingpins sought by U.S. authorities under a court order handed down in New York in May. The U.S. government had offered a $5-million reward for his capture. Police seized Florez early Tuesday in a rural area outside Medellin, Colombia's second-largest city, the national police chief, Gen.

Colombia extradited one of South America's top suspected cocaine kingpins to Miami on Tuesday, a U.S. drug official said. Alejandro Bernal is accused of leading a smuggling ring believed to have shipped as much as 30 tons of cocaine a month to the United States in the late 1990s. U.S. prosecutors say Bernal, a former Medellin cartel member, was even more important in the smuggling ring than Fabio Ochoa, whose September extradition to the United States drew wide attention.

The U.S. government contract worker allegedly killed by leftist rebels after his plane crashed in southern Colombia this month was a decorated former soldier, according to family members and U.S. officials, and he was buried with full military honors. Thomas John Janis, 56, was found shot in the head at close range about a mile from the wreckage. Janis was on a joint mission with three other Americans and a Colombian when their plane went down Feb.