[progchat_action] US provided intelligence for FARC strike
 
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 08:58:59 -0600 (CST)


US aided rebel strike: Columbia

AFP
 March 04, 2008

US intelligence helped Colombia carry out a weekend strike against a FARC
rebel camp inside Ecuador that has triggered a regional crisis and military
standoff, Colombian officials say.

Colombian police chief General Oscar Naranjo told reporters "it's no secret"
that his country's agencies have "a very strong alliance with federal
agencies of the United States,'' though he did not specify which ones.

The raid early Sunday that killed Raul Reyes, reputed to be the number two
leader of the insurgent Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was
an "autonomous operation" that relied on information from several sources,
he said.

A high-placed official in the Colombian defense ministry said, on condition
of anonymity, that it was a US intelligence agency that first told Bogota
several weeks ago that Reyes was sporadically using a satellite telephone,
whose signal could be pinpointed.

"The United States handed over the identification of the satellite telephone
to (Colombian) police intelligence units, which in turn processed the
information and was tasked with finding the location of the telephone," the
official said.

"There were also informants," the source said.

Reyes, real name Luis Edgar Devia, 59, was killed along with 16 other rebels
and one Colombian soldier. He was considered the right-hand man to
77-year-old FARC leader Manuel "Tirofijo" ("Sureshot") Marulanda and his
likely successor.

The raid took place 1.8 kilometers (one mile) inside Ecuador, sparking a
regional crisis and the rupture of diplomatic relations between Quito and
Bogota.

Ecuador and its ally Venezuela have ordered troops to mass on their borders
with Colombia, raising the specter of armed conflict between the two OPEC
members and Washington's main South American ally.

The United States, which considers the FARC a "terrorist" group, has said it
supported Colombia's cross-border strike but denied providing any material
aid.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23316900-2703,00.html

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