Why is the United States deploying special forces in Colombia?

Text by: Stefanie Schüler Follow

This Wednesday, the United States and Colombia announced the dispatch of American special forces to Colombia. According to a joint statement, these units must advise Colombian forces in operations to combat drug trafficking which targets the socialist regime of Nicolas Maduro. Washington accuses the President of Venezuela of collusion with drug lords. But the contours of this return of American forces to Colombian soil remain vague to say the least. Interview with Frédéric Massé, specialist from Colombia and co-director of Red CORAL, an organized crime surveillance network in Latin America.

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RFI: Frédéric Massé, what do we know about this deployment of American special forces in Colombia?

Frédéric Massé: The announcement of this deployment was made on Wednesday, but several questions remain unanswered. How long will these units stay in Colombia? What will be their exact role? Will they participate in field operations? What exactly are they targeting? So for the moment what we know is that it is a little known unit, in English SFAB or "assistance contingent to the security forces". It is rather vague in fact. One can think that there will be a certain number of American military advisers and a priori no special combat forces. The force is expected to arrive in Colombia in early June for four months. It is also not known whether this period will be renewable or not. This force is therefore intended to support anti-drug operations in Colombia. Consequently, it will be deployed in regions very affected by violence, coca crops and drug trafficking. Among these regions, some are located on the border with Venezuela but not only. A priori, American military advisers will also be deployed on the Colombian Pacific coast or in the natural parks of Colombia where there is an increase in coca crops.

What is the purpose of the United States?

The context for this deployment is quite specific: we have been witnessing for a month an escalation not only verbal but also military between the United States and Venezuela. In early April, the Trump administration announced a strengthening of drug operations, including the deployment of a war fleet in the Caribbean to prevent the shipment of drugs to the United States from Venezuela. And then, a fortnight ago, we had an attempt to disembark mercenaries in Venezuela to capture President Nicolas Maduro. This attempt failed. We compared it to a "Bay of pigs bis".

At the same time, there has been a significant increase in the area of ​​coca crops in Colombia in recent years. The figure was multiplied by five in seven years. And for a few years now, part of the drug produced in Colombia has been passing through Venezuela where cartels have formed, notably the "cartel de los soles", so called in reference to the emblem of the sun found on uniforms. of the Bolivarian Armed Forces, of which it is known that a number of its members are involved in drug trafficking. And since the start of the year, the US government has officially accused several senior leaders of the Venezuelan regime of participating in drug trafficking operations.

In this context, the United States wants to strengthen its anti-drug cooperation with Colombia to prevent drugs from passing through Venezuela before arriving in the United States.

But one question still remains unanswered: how could this special American unit, which would consist of helping the Colombian forces in their fight against drug trafficking, target the cartels present in Venezuela? It is not very clear, because this force should be present in Colombia and will not operate on Venezuelan soil. Will it be used to prepare operations in Venezuelan territory? Will it be used to strengthen vigilance from Colombian soil? We don't know exactly.

The current American rhetoric is in any case strangely similar to that of Plan Colombia in the early 2000s where the United States sent advisers to combat drug trafficking and where Plan Colombia was used, among other things, to combat groups of guerrilla warfare under the guise of the fight against drug trafficking.

In the context of this anti-drug offensive, what are the interests of the Colombian government of Conservative President Ivan Duque?

The Colombian government obviously wants to continue the fight against drug trafficking, since the situation has deteriorated enough in recent years. But there is also a real desire on the part of the Colombian government not to get angry with its American allies. And insofar as these American allies consider that the fight against drug trafficking has not produced the expected results, this fight must be reinforced. So on the part of the Colombians it is on the one hand to strengthen this struggle and on the other to show their good will in the United States.

Regarding Bogota's relationship with Venezuela, it is a little more vague: the Colombian opposition accuses the government of Ivan Duque of playing into the hands of the United States and of wanting to overthrow the regime of Nicolas Maduro. And indeed there have been diplomatic efforts from Bogota to find a negotiated solution to the political crisis in Venezuela. The Colombian opposition also suspects the government of having played a role in the attempt to disembark mercenaries in Venezuela. What the Colombian authorities have denied.

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