COLOMBIA: Colombia braced itself for more bloodshed yesterday as the US government announced plans to send 150 special forces troops there to participate in the search for three CIA operatives captured by left-wing rebels in the jungles of southern Colombia last week.
Despite the swift arrival of Colombian troops, the rebels managed to kidnap three US citizens while a fourth was killed, alongside a Colombian army pilot who refused to surrender to the rebels.
In a statement released on Saturday, FARC rebels said they would respect the lives of the three operatives only if the government immediately suspended military operations in the Caqueta area, where the aircraft was shot down.
The Colombian President, Mr Alvaro Uribe, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by the FARC last week and is under pressure to respond to a wave of bombings, one of which killed 33 people and injured 160 in a Bogota club.
President Uribe has beefed up security forces and enlisted a network of five million informers who receive weekly cash payments in return for information on suspected rebel movements. Lawyers and judges have condemned the cash reward system as a recipe for inter-community strife, while locals not wishing to participate in the network have been harassed and tortured.
Since the collapse of the peace process last year, rural areas under rebel influence have seen elected civilians replaced by army commanders who enjoy vast powers to search and detain suspects without legal formalities.
US troops numbers in Colombia now exceed the 400 authorised by the US Congress, while President Bush has given the green light for combat operations, in violation of congressional limits, which only permit collaboration on intelligence and logistics.
US aid and troops were once confined to fighting powerful drug gangs in Colombia.