Trump ‘risks war’ by joining drug fight in Colombia
Opposition leaders claim deployment of US troops is illegal and may be a plot to oust Venezuelan regime
MEMBERS of Colombia’s opposition have warned that the deployment of US troops in the country is illegal, risks hampering a fragile peace process and could spark an international conflict.
“This could turn into a war that has nothing to do with us,” Armando Benedetti, a senator, told reporters.
Colombia’s defence minister insisted the American soldiers were present only in a support capacity and said the deployment did not need congressional approval.
“Regardless of whether it’s illegal or not, it’s a blow to the peace process,” said senator Iván Cepeda. “It will fuel violence in areas that are already volatile.”
US forces will support the Colombian military in counter narcotics operations in rural regions, where the government is struggling to establish a state presence, including along the Venezuelan border, a stronghold of the National Liberation Army (ELN), a Marxist guerrilla group.
ELN commanders told The Daily Telegraph that Donald Trump was playing a dangerous game. Israel Ramírez Pineda, a senior ELN commander otherwise known as Pablo Beltrán, claimed the actions of the US president could lead to war or allow an unplanned confrontation to spiral out of control.
“It could be a prelude to world war three,” he said. “The US is committed to overthrowing the Venezuelan regime and now it’s going to do it with the help of the Colombian government.”
Léon Valencia, a peace campaigner, said the deployment was a smokescreen. “Look at where some of the troops will be based,” he said. “In strategic positions along the border. That’s no coincidence.”
In April, the US sent warships to the Caribbean specifically to target narcotraffickers who work out of Venezuela. Last month Venezuela arrested two former members of the US special forces after a botched attempt to remove Nicolás Maduro, the country’s president, from power.
Tensions increased with the arrival of five Iranian oil tankers in Venezuela carrying more than a million barrels of fuel, in violation of US sanctions.
“It’s a direct challenge to the US in its own backyard,” said Mr Beltran.
“Venezuela has become a theatre of war, which pits the world’s greatest enemies against each other.”
The ELN operates across large parts of Colombia, and in parts of Venezuela, a key ally. It has always denied being involved in organised crime.
“This won’t be the first time we have seen Americans in the battlefield,” said Mr Beltrán. “We won’t look to escalate conflict, but if they come looking for us, armed, of course we will respond.”
Both the American and Colombian governments deny the troop deployment is about regime change and say the focus is the war on drugs. Mr Trump has not been shy about airing his discontent at Colombia’s strategies against drug trafficking.
Both nations have largely measured their success on the eradication of coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine, and according to their own statistics, they are struggling.
Last year, the cultivation of coca leaves in Colombia rose from 208,000 to 212,000 hectares (523,863 acres), while cocaine production increased from 879 to 951 tons – despite a crop substitution programme for coca farmers – according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Mr Trump has consistently called on Colombia to reintroduce the aerial spraying of herbicide, which has been suspended since 2015 because of concerns about the impact of glyphosate on health and the wider environment.