Colombia to get U.S. support to fight crime gangs: Santos

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Wed May 4, 2016 1:01pm EDT
Related: World

Colombia to get U.S. support to fight crime gangs: Santos


The United States will provide intelligence to support Colombia in its fight against crime gangs, considered the biggest threat to the Andean nation's security, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Wednesday.

There are about 3,000 members spread across three gangs earning millions of dollars from drug trafficking and illegal mining, the national police have said. The groups formed after a peace agreement with right-wing paramilitary groups in 2006 failed to absorb hundreds into society.

"The U.S. will help with intelligence. The most effective strategy against these organizations is intelligence," Santos said in an interview with local Caracol radio.

U.S. support was crucial in battling drug cartels from Cali and Medellin in the 1990s as well as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which is currently negotiating an end to five decades of war the government.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-gangs-idUSKCN0XV24U?rpc=401

[jomin41]

1. I think the U.S. was and is responsible for creating these gangs

or at least in boosting them into the big leagues. The more we "help" the worse it gets.

[uhnope]

2. Could you elaborate on that claim?

How did the US do that, and why? Was it intentional? How is this not entirely a Colombian problem, & US assistance welcome? Even the article says this:

U.S. support was crucial in battling drug cartels from Cali and Medellin in the 1990s as well as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which is currently negotiating an end to five decades of war the government.

[EX500rider]

3. Come now, anything bad happens anywhere it's obviously the fault of the US...

....of course Obama is fomenting and supporting criminal gangs in South America.....lol