Juanson World

I'm kind of late in addressing this, but I did want to comment on the two US soldiers arrested in Colombia on Tuesday that were caught with ammunition that appeared to be destined to right-wing paramilitaries:

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/05/04/colombia.smuggling/

You can see from my posts below that I am a fairly vehement critic of Plan Colombia. This current embarrassment follows the arrest five years ago of an American coronel whose wife was caught smuggling heroin in the States as well as the five American soldiers who were caught in March for trafficking cocaine into Texas (http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/04/1730842.php).

While I tend to not blame soldiers for misguided foreign policy enacted by governments, it is clear that the line is blurring between the "good guys" and the "bad guys." Certain bad apples stationed in the field are cutting deals with corrupt Colombian authorities. I do not believe that this is being sanctioned from above, but future cases such as these will continue to undermine the effectiveness of US-Colombia cooperation in ending this interminable conflict.

Lastly is the issue of jurisdiction in the handling of the two soldiers:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/06/international/americas/06colombia.html?

I don't blame the Colombians for feeling slighted, but that is the name of the game when dealing with the boys up north. Lest you not forget the bullying that occurred two summers ago when Colombia was blackmailed into pulling out of the treaty for an International Criminal Court. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3035296.stm)

I will be visiting the US Embassy in Bogota next week and it will be interesting to see how this is playing out.